Benchmarking antibody clustering methods using sequence, structural, and machine learning similarity measures for antibody discovery applications.

Antibodies are proteins produced by our immune system that have been harnessed as biotherapeutics. The discovery of antibody-based therapeutics relies on analyzing large volumes of diverse sequences coming from phage display or animal immunizations. Identification of suitable therapeutic candidates is achieved by grouping the sequences by their similarity and subsequent selection of a diverse set of antibodies for further tests.

LAP: Liability Antibody Profiler by sequence & structural mapping of natural and therapeutic antibodies.

Antibody-based therapeutics must not undergo chemical modifications that would impair their efficacy or hinder their developability. A commonly used technique to de-risk lead biotherapeutic candidates annotates chemical liability motifs on their sequence. By analyzing sequences from all major sources of data (therapeutics, patents, GenBank, literature, and next-generation sequencing outputs), we find that almost all antibodies contain an average of 3-4 such liability motifs in their paratopes, irrespective of the source dataset.

Expression of the Tyrosine Hydroxylase Gene from Rat Leads to Oxidative Stress in Potato Plants.

Catecholamines are biogenic aromatic amines common among both animals and plants. In animals, they are synthesized via tyrosine hydroxylation, while both hydroxylation or decarboxylation of tyrosine are possible in plants, depending on the species, though no tyrosine hydroxylase-a counterpart of the animal enzyme-has been identified yet. It is known that in potato plants, it is the decarboxylation of tyrosine that leads to catecholamine production.

V79 Fibroblasts Are Protected Against Reactive Oxygen Species by Flax Fabric.

Chinese hamster pulmonary fibroblasts (V79 cells) pre-treated with flax fabrics derived from non-modified or genetically engineered flax fibres and treated with HO revealed a markedly lower level of intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) than control, non-pre-treated cells. The fabrics were prepared from fibres derived from two kinds of transgenic plants: W92 plants, which overproduce flavonoids, and M type plants, which produce hydroxybutyrate polymer in their vascular bundles and thus in fibres. Incubating the V79 cells with the flax fabrics prior to HO treatment also reduced the amount of DNA damage, as established using the comet assay (also known as alkaline single-cell gel electrophoresis) and pulsed-field electrophoresis of intact cellular DNA.

Methyl Salicylate Level Increase in Flax after Infection Is Associated with Phenylpropanoid Pathway Activation.

Flax () is a crop plant valued for its oil and fiber. Unfortunately, large losses in cultivation of this plant are caused by fungal infections, with being one of its most dangerous pathogens. Among the plant's defense strategies, changes in the expression of genes of the shikimate/phenylpropanoid/benzoate pathway and thus in phenolic contents occur.

Flax Fiber Hydrophobic Extract Inhibits Human Skin Cells Inflammation and Causes Remodeling of Extracellular Matrix and Wound Closure Activation.

Inflammation is the basis of many diseases, with chronic wounds amongst them, limiting cell proliferation and tissue regeneration. Our previous preclinical study of flax fiber applied as a wound dressing and analysis of its components impact on the fibroblast transcriptome suggested flax fiber hydrophobic extract use as an anti-inflammatory and wound healing preparation. The extract contains cannabidiol (CBD), phytosterols, and unsaturated fatty acids, showing great promise in wound healing.