Glutamate decarboxylase of the parasitic arthropods Ctenocephalides felis and Rhipicephalus microplus: gene identification, cloning, expression, assay development, identification of inhibitors by high throughput screening and comparison with the orthologs from Drosophila melanogaster and mouse.

Glutamate decarboxylase (l-glutamate 1-carboxylyase, E.C. 4.

Molecular visualization in the rational drug design process.

The visualization of molecular scenarios on an atomic level can help to interpret experimental and theoretical findings. This is demonstrated in this review article with the specific field of drug design. State-of-the-art visualization techniques are described and applied to the different stages of the rational design process.

A comparative chemogenomics strategy to predict potential drug targets in the metazoan pathogen, Schistosoma mansoni.

Schistosomiasis is a prevalent and chronic helmintic disease in tropical regions. Treatment and control relies on chemotherapy with just one drug, praziquantel and this reliance is of concern should clinically relevant drug resistance emerge and spread. Therefore, to identify potential target proteins for new avenues of drug discovery we have taken a comparative chemogenomics approach utilizing the putative proteome of Schistosoma mansoni compared to the proteomes of two model organisms, the nematode, Caenorhabditis elegans and the fruitfly, Drosophila melanogaster.

Identification and characterisation of the dopamine receptor II from the cat flea Ctenocephalides felis (CfDopRII).

G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) represent a protein family with a wide range of functions. Approximately 30% of human drug targets are GPCRs, illustrating their pharmaceutical relevance. In contrast, the knowledge about invertebrate GPCRs is limited and is mainly restricted to model organisms like Drosophila melanogaster and Caenorhabditis elegans.

Phenotype and function of monocyte derived dendritic cells in chronic hepatitis B virus infection.

The antiviral T cell failure of patients with chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection was suggested to be caused by a T cell stimulation defect of dendritic cells (DC). To address this hypothesis, monocyte derived DC (MDDC) of patients with chronic or resolved acute HBV infection and healthy controls were studied phenotypically by FACS analyses and functionally by mixed lymphocyte reaction, ELISA, ELISpot and proliferation assays of MDDC cultures or co-cultures with an allogeneic HBc-specific Th cell clone. HBV infection of MDDC was studied by quantitative PCR.