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Tumstatin, a cleavage fragment of collagen IV, is a potent endogenous inhibitor of angiogenesis. Tumstatin-derived peptide T8 possesses all angiostatic properties of full-length tumstatin and indirectly suppresses tumor growth. The potential of T8 to block pathological angiogenesis in the eye has not been explored yet. Here we assess antiangiogenic effects of a recombinant T8 peptide in rabbit corneal...
Interferon regulatory factor 3 (IRF-3) plays a crucial role in initiation and development of the IFN antiviral response. The expression level of human IRF-3 is thought to be closely related to antiviral state of cells. However, the mechanisms of the transcription regulation of IRF-3 have remained largely unknown. We previously reported that transcription factor E2F1 negatively regulates the basal...
Arabidopsis mitochondria contain two NAD + -malic enzymes, NAD-ME1 and NAD-ME2. These proteins have similar affinity for their substrates but display opposite regulation by fumarate, which strongly stimulates NAD-ME1 but inhibits NAD-ME2 activity. Here, the interaction of NAD-ME1 and -2 with fumarate was investigated by kinetic approaches, urea denaturation assays and intrinsic fluorescence...
The chemical complexity of the defensive skin secretion of the red-eyed leaf frog, (Agalychnis callidryas), has not been elucidated in detail. During a systematic study of the skin secretion peptidomes of phyllomedusine frogs, we discovered a novel Kazal-type protein with potent trypsin inhibitory activity (Ki = 1.9 nM) that displays the highest degree of structural similarity with Kazal proteins...
Lysogenic Escherichia coli K-12 harbouring the prophage mEp021 displays haemolytic activity. From a genomic library of mEp021, we identified an open reading frame (ORF 4) that was responsible for the haemolytic activity. However, the ORF 4 sequence contains four initiation codons in the same frame: ORF 4.1–ORF 4.4, coding for 83-a.a., 82-a.a., 77-a.a. and 72-a.a. products, respectively. The expression...
The environmentally prevalent arsenate (As V ) undergoes reduction in the body to the much more toxic arsenite (As III ). Phosphorolytic enzymes and ATP synthase can promote the reduction As V by converting it into arsenylated products in which the pentavalent arsenic is more reducible by glutathione (GSH) to As III than in inorganic As V . Glutathione synthetase...
Seven cDNA sequences encoding antimicrobial peptide (AMP) precursors were cloned by screening the skin-derived cDNA library of the broad-folded frog, Hylarana latouchii. Seven of the deduced peptides are highly similar to AMPs in five families of brevinin-2 (brevinin-2LTa, brevinin-2LTb, and brevinin-2LTc), esculentin-1 (esculentin-1LTa), esculentin-2 (esculentin-2LTa), palustrin-2 (palustrin-2LTa),...
The Human Secreted Group IID Phospholipase A 2 (hsPLA2GIID) may be involved in the human acute immune response. Here we have demonstrated that the hsPLA2GIID presents bactericidal and Ca 2+ -independent liposome membrane-damaging activities and we have compared these effects with the catalytic activity of active-site mutants of the protein. All mutants showed reduced hydrolytic activity...
Low temperature EPR spectroscopy was used to characterise Mycobacterium tuberculosis catalase-peroxidase in its resting ferric haem state. Several high spin ferric haem forms and no low spin forms were found in the enzyme samples frozen in methanol on dry ice. The EPR spectra depended not only on the pH but also on the buffer type. As a general trend, the higher the pH, the greater the ‘rhombic’ fraction...
Three enzymes, carnosine dipeptidase I (EC 3.4.13.20, CNDP1), carnosine dipeptidase II (EC 3.4.13.18, CNDP2), and Xaa-methyl-His dipeptidase (or anserinase: EC 3.4.13.5, ANSN), are known to be capable of catalyzing the hydrolysis of carnosine (β-alanyl-l-histidine), in vertebrates. Here we report the purification and identification of two unidentified carnosine-cleaving enzymes from Japanese eel (Anguilla...
The commonly used food additive carrageenan, including lambda (λ), kappa (κ) and iota (ι) forms, is composed of galactose disaccharides linked in alpha-1,3 and beta-1,4 glycosidic bonds with up to three sulfate groups per disaccharide residue. Carrageenan closely resembles the endogenous galactose or N-acetylgalactosamine-containing glycosaminoglycans (GAGs), chondroitin sulfate (CS), dermatan sulfate...
Heat shock protein (Hsp) 90 is an ATP-dependent chaperone and its expression has been reported to be associated with poor prognosis of breast cancer. Cancer stem cells (CSCs) are particular subtypes of cells in cancer which have been demonstrated to be important to tumor initiation, drug resistance and metastasis. In breast cancer, breast CSCs (BCSCs) are identified as CD24-CD44 + cells or cells with...
MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are endogenous non-coding small RNAs that have emerged as one of the central players of gene expression regulation. Endothelial cell apoptosis plays a fundamental role in the development of atherosclerosis. This study was designed to determine the effect of miR-513a-5p on apoptosis of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs). HUVECs were treated with tumour necrosis factor-α...
Glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) such as chondroitin sulphate/dermatan sulphate (CS/DS) are complex molecules that are widely expressed on the cell membrane and extracellular matrix (ECM). They play an important role in wide range of biological activities especially during pathological conditions. Diabetes, a metabolic disorder characterized by sustained hyperglycemia, is known to affect GAGs in different...
Doxorubicin (Dox), a chemotherapeutic drug, is used for the treatment of different types of cancers. Application of this drug has now been made limited because of its several acute and chronic side effects. The aim of this work is to investigate the nephroprotecive role of a 43 kD protein (CI protein) isolated from the leaves of Cajanus indicus L, against Dox-induced oxidative impairment and kidney...
Uricase was lost in hominoids during primate evolution, but the inactivation mechanism remains controversial. To investigate the inactivation process of hominoid uricase, chimeric constructions between canine and human uricase were employed to screen the target regions that may contain labile or inactivated mutations in deduced human uricase. Four chimeric uricases were constructed and showed different...
Adherence to the cell surface is a key event during infection of pathogenic microorganisms. We have previously reported that autolysin amidase (Ami) of Listeria monocytogenes promotes an efficient listerial adherence to mouse hepatocytes and requires for listerial pathogenicity. Cell wall anchoring (CWA) domain of Ami has been shown to bind lipoteichoic acid on listerial cell wall but the binding...
Multidrug resistance (MDR) occurs when bacteria simultaneously acquire resistance to a broad spectrum of structurally dissimilar compounds to which they have not previously been exposed. MDR is principally a consequence of the active transport of drugs out of the cell by proteins that are integral membrane transporters. We characterised and purified the putative Escherichia coli MDR transporter, MdtM,...
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