Sialyl Lewis(x) analogs based on a quinic acid scaffold as the fucose mimic.

(-)-Quinic acid was used as a starting material for the preparation of sialyl Lewis(x) mimetics in order to target E-selectin. Spatial orientation of the hydroxyl groups of quinic acid could mimic the l-fucose ones. Introduction of a side chain ending with a carboxylic acid was effected to replace the sialic acid interaction at the carbohydrate recognition domain.

Coupling of importin beta binding peptide on plasmid DNA: transfection efficiency is increased by modification of lipoplex's physico-chemical properties.

Background: Non-viral vectors for gene transfer are less immunogenic than viral vectors but also less efficient. Significant effort has focused on enhancing non-viral gene transfer efficiency by increasing nuclear import of plasmid DNA, particularly by coupling nuclear localization peptidic sequences to plasmid DNA.

Results: We have coupled a 62-aminoacid peptide derived from hSRP1alpha importin beta binding domain, called the IBB peptide to plasmid DNA by using the heterobifunctional linker N-(4-azido-2,3,5,6 tetrafluorobenzyl)-6-maleimidyl hexanamide (TFPAM-6).