Background: In humans, two ubiquitously expressed N-myristoyltransferases, NMT1 and NMT2, catalyze myristate transfer to proteins to facilitate membrane targeting and signaling. We investigated the expression of NMTs in numerous cancers and found that NMT2 levels are dysregulated by epigenetic suppression, particularly so in hematologic malignancies. This suggests that pharmacological inhibition of the remaining NMT1 could allow for the selective killing of these cells, sparing normal cells with both NMTs.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMethylstilbene-alt-maleic acid copolymers spontaneously convert biological membranes into bilayer discs with ∼20 nm diameters. This readily functionalizable class of copolymers has the compositional homogeneity, hydrophobicity, dynamics, and charge that may help to achieve optimal structural resolution, membrane dissolution, stability, and broad utility.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe development of amphipathic polymers, including various formulations of styrene-maleic acid (SMA) copolymers, has allowed the purification of increasing sizes and complexities of biological membrane protein assemblies in native nanodiscs. However, the factors determining the sizes and shapes of the resulting bio-nano particles remain unclear. Here, we show how grafting on short alkyl amine sidechains onto the polar residues leads to a broad set of nanoparticle sizes with improved solution behavior.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPrions are transmissible agents causing lethal neurodegenerative diseases that are composed of aggregates of misfolded cellular prion protein (PrPSc). Despite non-fibrillar oligomers having been proposed as the most infectious prion particles, prions purified from diseased brains usually consist of large and fibrillar PrPSc aggregates, whose protease-resistant core (PrPres) encompasses the whole C-terminus of PrP. In contrast, PrPSc from Gerstmann-Sträussler-Scheinker disease associated with alanine to valine substitution at position 117 (GSS-A117V) is characterized by a small protease-resistant core, which is devoid of the C-terminus.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPLoS Pathog
January 2018
To explore pathogenesis in a young Gerstmann-Sträussler-Scheinker Disease (GSS) patient, the corresponding mutation, an eight-residue duplication in the hydrophobic region (HR), was inserted into the wild type mouse PrP gene. Transgenic (Tg) mouse lines expressing this mutation (Tg.HRdup) developed spontaneous neurologic syndromes and brain extracts hastened disease in low-expressor Tg.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMisfolding of proteins in the biosynthetic pathway in neurons may cause disturbed protein homeostasis and neurodegeneration. The prion protein (PrP(C)) is a GPI-anchored protein that resides at the plasma membrane and may be misfolded to PrP(Sc) leading to prion diseases. We show that a deletion in the C-terminal domain of PrP(C) (PrPΔ214-229) leads to partial retention in the secretory pathway causing a fatal neurodegenerative disease in mice that is partially rescued by co-expression of PrP(C).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPrion diseases are a family of transmissible, progressive, and uniformly fatal neurodegenerative disorders that affect humans and animals. Although cross-species transmissions of prions are usually limited by an apparent “species barrier”, the spread ofa prion disease to humans by ingestion of contaminated food, or via other routes of exposure, indicates that animal prions can pose a significant public health risk. The infectious agent responsible for the transmission of prion diseases is a misfolded conformer of the prion protein, PrPSc, a pathogenic isoform of the host-encoded, cellular prion protein,PrPC.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Inorg Biochem
March 2014
Four new molybdenocene complexes, Cp2Mo(l-ascorbato), Cp2Mo(6-O-palmitoyl-l-ascorbato), [Cp2Mo(ethyl maltolato)]Cl and Cp2Mo((2S)-2-amino-3-methyl-3-thiolato-butanoato), were synthesized and structurally characterized by standard analytical methods. The cytotoxicity of these complexes was assessed on colon HT-29 and breast MCF-7 cancer cell lines using the 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay. A higher cytotoxic activity was shown by all the new complexes on the MCF-7 cells over the Cp2MoCl2 complex.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCamptothecin (CPT) and its analogs exhibit remarkable anti-tumor activity, due to their ability to inhibit DNA topoisomerase I. However, its use is limited by the lack of solubility and stability of the active lactone form. An attractive alternative is the encapsulation of CPT within liposomes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe report a novel method for high-throughput investigations on cell-material interactions based on metal oxide nanoscaffolds. These scaffolds possess a continuous gradient of various titanium alloys allowing the compositional and morphological variation that could substantially improve the formation of an osseointegrative interface with bone. The model nanoscaffold has been fabricated on commercially pure titanium (cp-Ti) substrate with a compositional gradients of tin (Sn), chromium (Cr), and niobium (Nb) deposited using a combinatorial approach followed by annealing to create native oxide surface.
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