Chitosan and Chitooligosaccharides: Antifungal Potential and Structural Insights.

Chitosan is a cationic polysaccharide derived from chitin deacetylation. This polysaccharide and its oligosaccharides have many biological activities and can be used in several fields due to their favorable characteristics, such as biodegradability, biocompatibility, and nontoxicity. This review aims to explore the antifungal potential of chitosan and chitooligosaccharides along with the conditions used for the activity and mechanisms of action they use to kill fungal cells.

Mechanism of molecular interaction of sitagliptin with human DPP enzyme - New Insights.

Purpose: Dipeptidyl peptidase 4 (DPP) inactivates a range of bioactive peptides. The cleavage of insulinotropic peptides and glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP) by DPP directly influences glucose homeostasis. This study aimed to describe the mode of interaction between sitagliptin (an antidiabetic drug) and human DPP using in silico approaches.

Evaluation of the anti-diabetic drug sitagliptin as a novel attenuate to SARS-CoV-2 evidence-based in silico: molecular docking and molecular dynamics.

Unlabelled: The current outbreak of COVID-19 cases worldwide has been responsible for a significant number of deaths, especially in hospitalized patients suffering from comorbidities, such as obesity, diabetes, hypertension. The disease not only has prompted an interest in the pathophysiology, but also it has propelled a massive race to find new anti-SARS-CoV-2 drugs. In this scenario, known drugs commonly used to treat other diseases have been suggested as alternative or complementary therapeutics.

Expression in Escherichia coli of cysteine protease inhibitors from cowpea (Vigna unguiculata): The crystal structure of a single-domain cystatin gives insights on its thermal and pH stability.

Two cysteine proteinase inhibitors from cowpea, VuCys1 and VuCys2, were produced in E. coli ArcticExpress (DE3). The recombinant products strongly inhibited papain and chymopapain as well as the midgut proteases from Callosobruchus maculatus larvae, a bruchid that uses cysteine proteases as major digestive enzymes.

Bioethical conflicts of gene therapy: a brief critical review.

Methods and techniques employed in gene therapy are reviewed in parallel with pertinent ethical conflicts. Clinical interventions based on gene therapy techniques preferentially use vectors for the transportation of therapeutic genes, however little is known about the potential risks and damages to the patient. Thus, attending carefully to the clinical complications arising as well as to security is essential.