Human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) protein overexpression is found in ~30% of invasive breast carcinomas and in a high proportion of noninvasive ductal carcinomas in situ. Targeted cancer therapy is based on monoclonal antibodies and kinase inhibitors and reflects a new era of cancer therapy. However, delivery to tumor cells in vivo is hampered by the large size (150 kDa) of conventional antibodies.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAngiotensin-I-converting enzyme (ACE) plays an important role in blood pressure regulation. In this study, an ACE-hexapeptide inhibitor (Asp-Glu-Asn-Ser-Lys-Phe) designated as chebulin was produced from the fruit protein of Terminalia chebula Retz. by pepsin digestion, ultrafiltrated through a 3 KDa cut-off membrane, a reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatography, and nano-liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry analysis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDengue virus (DENV) infection has become a public health problem worldwide. The development of anti-DENV drug is urgently needed because neither licensed vaccine nor specific drug is currently available. Inhibition of DENV attachment and entry to host cells by blocking DENV envelope (E) protein is an attractive strategy for anti-DENV drug development.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSevere forms of dengue virus (DENV) infection frequently cause high case fatality rate. Currently, there is no effective vaccine against the infection. Clinical cases are given only palliative treatment as specific anti-DENV immunotherapy is not available and it is urgently required.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMacrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) is a pro-inflammatory cytokine, secreted from a variety of immune cells, that regulates innate and adaptive immune responses. Elevation of MIF levels in plasma correlates with the severity of inflammatory diseases in humans. Inhibition of MIF or its tautomerase activity ameliorates disease severity by reducing inflammatory responses.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNS3 helicase is a pivotal enzyme involved in the early and late phases of hepatitis C virus (HCV) replication. The primary sequence and tertiary structure of this virus enzyme differ from human helicase to a certain extent; thus this virus protein has potential as a novel anti-HCV target. In this study, recombinant C-terminal NS3 protein of HCV genotype 3a with endowed helicase activity was produced and used as antigen by selecting VH/V(H)H display phage clones from an established humanized-camel single domain antibody library that bound specifically to HCV helicase.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBovine babesiosis is an economically significant disease that affects dairy farming operations in Thailand. In the present study, 1824 blood-DNA samples prepared from cattle bred in 4 different regions of the country (North, Northeast, Central, and South) were screened using a nested PCR for the specific detection of Babesia bovis. While the overall prevalence of B.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCurrently, there is a need of new anti-influenza agents that target influenza virus proteins other than ion channel M2 and neuraminidase. Non-structural protein-1 (NS1) is a highly conserved multifunctional protein which is indispensable for the virus replication cycle. In this study, fully human single chain antibody fragments (HuScFv) that bound specifically to recombinant and native NS1 were produced from three huscfv-phagemid transformed Escherichia coli clones (nos.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Novel effective anti-influenza agent that tolerates influenza virus antigenic variation is needed. Highly conserved influenza virus M2 protein has multiple pivotal functions including ion channel activity for vRNP uncoating, anti-autophagy and virus assembly, morphogenesis and release. Thus, M2 is an attractive target of anti-influenza agents including small molecular drugs and specific antibodies.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNS5B is pivotal RNA dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) of HCV and NS5B function interfering halts the virus infective cycle. This work aimed to produce cell penetrable humanized single domain antibodies (SdAb; VH/V(H)H) that interfere with the RdRp activity. Recombinant NS5BΔ55 of genotype 3a HCV with de novo RNA synthetic activity was produced and used in phage biopanning for selecting phage clones that displayed NS5BΔ55 bound VH/V(H)H from a humanized-camel VH/V(H)H display library.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNaja kaouthia (monocled cobra) venom contains many isoforms of secreted phospholipase A2 (sPLA(2)). The PLA(2) exerts several pharmacologic and toxic effects in the snake bitten subject, dependent or independent on the enzymatic activity. N.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTetrodotoxin (TTX) is a heterocyclic guanidinium alkaloid (C11H17N3O8) with molecular mass of ∼320 Da. The TTX and toxic analogs block sodium ion activity of mammalian nerve cells resulting in failure to conduct nerve impulse which manifested clinically in host as variable degrees of organ paralysis. Human intoxication occurs after consuming food containing the toxins.
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