Data sources for in vivo molecular profiling of human phenotypes.

Molecular profiling of human diseases has been approached at the genetic (DNA), expression (RNA), and proteomic (protein) levels. An important goal of these efforts is to map observed molecular patterns to specific, mechanistic organic entities, such as loci in the genome, individual RNA molecules or defined proteins or protein assemblies. Importantly, such maps have been historically approached in the more intuitive context of a theoretical individual cell, but diseases are better described in reality using an in vivo framework, namely a library of several tissue-specific maps.

Historeceptomic Fingerprints for Drug-Like Compounds.

Most drugs exert their beneficial and adverse effects through their combined action on several different molecular targets (polypharmacology). The true molecular fingerprint of the direct action of a drug has two components: the ensemble of all the receptors upon which a drug acts and their level of expression in organs/tissues. Conversely, the fingerprint of the adverse effects of a drug may derive from its action in bystander tissues.

Cryptic determinant of α4β7 binding in the V2 loop of HIV-1 gp120.

The peptide segment of the second variable loop of HIV-1 spanning positions 166-181 harbors two functionally important sites. The first, spanning positions 179-181, engages the human α4β7 integrin receptor which is involved in T-cell gut-homing and may play a role in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-host cell interactions. The second, at positions 166-178, is a major target of anti-V2 antibodies elicited by the ALVAC/AIDSVAX vaccine used in the RV144 clinical trial.