Improved anti-biofilm activity and long-lasting effects of novel serratiopeptidase immobilized on cellulose nanofibers.

Today, enzymatic treatment is a progressive field in combating biofilm producing pathogens. In this regard, serratiopeptidase, a medicinally important metalloprotease, has been recently highlighted as an enzyme with proved anti-biofilm activity. In the present study, in order to increase the long-lasting effects of the enzyme, serratiopeptidase and the novel engineered forms with enhanced anti-biofilm activity were immobilized on the surface of cellulose nanofibers (CNFs) as a natural polymer with eminent properties.

Novel serratiopeptidase exhibits different affinities to the substrates and inhibitors.

The clinical application of serratiopeptidase as an anti-biofilm and anti-inflammatory agent is restricted due to the enzyme sensitivity to the environmental conditions. In our previous study, six enzyme variants were designed by introducing different mutations and truncations that exhibited higher thermal stability. In the present study, the interaction pattern and affinity of variants to substrates and inhibitors were studied using molecular docking and in vitro studies.

Comparing pregnancy, childbirth, and neonatal outcomes in women with idiopathic polyhydramnios: a prospective cohort study.

Background: In this prospective cohort study, the perinatal outcome in idiopathic polyhydramnios compared with normal pregnancies was examined.

Methods: This was a prospective cohort study of 180 singleton pregnancies who received care at the referral gynecology clinic of Yasuj, Iran between 2018-2020. The inclusion criteria comprised singleton pregnancies, gestational age > 34 weeks; fetuses without structural and chromosomal abnormalities in pregnancy screening test, no maternal diabetes, negative TORCH negative screening test, no Rh factor isoimmunization.

Design, expression and functional assessment of novel engineered serratiopeptidase analogs with enhanced protease activity and thermal stability.

Serratiopeptidase is a bacterial protease that has been used medicinally in variety of applications. Though, some drawbacks like sensitivity to environmental conditions and low penetration into cells limited its usage as a potent pharmaceutical agent. This study aimed to produce four novel truncated serratiopeptidase analogs with different lengths and possessing one disulfide bridge, in order to enhance protease activity and thermal stability of this enzyme.

Effect of Lithium Drug on Binding Affinities of Glycogen Synthase Kinase-3 β to Its Network Partners: A New Computational Approach.

Finding new methods to study the effect of small molecules on protein interaction networks provides us with invaluable tools in the fields of pharmacodynamics and drug design. Lithium is an antimanic drug that has been used for the treatment of bipolar disorder for more than 60 years. Here, we utilized a new approach to study the effect of lithium as a drug on the protein interaction network of GSK-3β as a hub protein and computed the affinities of GSK-3β to its partners in the presence of lithium or sodium ions.

Production and Expression Optimization of Heterologous Serratiopeptidase.

Background: Serratiopeptidase is a bacterial metalloprotease, which is useful for the treatment of pain and inflammation. It breaks down fibrin, thins the fluids formed during inflammation and acts as an anti-biofilm agent. Because of medicinally important role of the enzyme, we aimed to study the cloning and the expression optimization of serratiopeptidase.

Studying the Effects of ACE2 Mutations on the Stability, Dynamics, and Dissociation Process of SARS-CoV-2 S1/hACE2 Complexes.

A highly infectious coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, has spread in many countries. This virus recognizes its receptor, angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2), using the receptor binding domain of its spike protein subunit S1. Many missense mutations are reported in various human populations for the ACE2 gene.

The Psychiatric Drug Lithium Increases DNA Damage and Decreases Cell Survival in MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231 Breast Cancer Cell Lines Expos ed to Ionizing Radiation.

Background: Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women. Radiation therapy is used for treating almost every stage of breast cancer. A strategy to reduce irradiation side effects and to decrease the recurrence of cancer is concurrent use of radiation and radiosensitizers.

Efficacy of a Persian Herbal Remedy and Electroacupuncture on Metabolic Profiles and Anthropometric Parameters in Women with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

Background: The most prevalent endocrine disorder in women of reproductive age is polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficaciousness of a Persian herbal remedy, as well as electroacupuncture and the combination of them on metabolic profiles and anthropometric parameters in these patients.

Materials And Methods: Eighty overweight women with PCOS were randomly divided into four groups.

Modeling the interplay between DNA-PK, Artemis, and ATM in non-homologous end-joining repair in G1 phase of the cell cycle.

Modeling a biological process equips us with more comprehensive insight into the process and a more advantageous experimental design. Non-homologous end joining (NHEJ) is a major double-strand break (DSB) repair pathway that occurs throughout the cell cycle. The objective of the current work is to model the fast and slow phases of NHEJ in G1 phase of the cell cycle following exposure to ionizing radiation (IR).

Computational design, structure refinement and molecular dynamics simulation of novel engineered serratiopeptidase analogs.

Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma.

Molecular dynamics simulation for rational protein engineering: Present and future prospectus.

Recently protein engineering has been used as a pivotal tool for designing proteins with improved characteristics. While the experimental methods might be laborious and time-consuming, in silico protein design is a time and cost-effective approach. Moreover, in some cases, protein modeling might be the only way to obtain structural information where the experimental techniques are inapplicable.

Partner-Specific Prediction of Protein-Dimer Stability from Unbound Structure of Monomer.

Protein complexes play deterministic roles in live entities in sensing, compiling, controlling, and responding to external and internal stimuli. Thermodynamic stability is an important property of protein complexes; having knowledge about complex stability helps us to understand the basics of protein assembly-related diseases and the mechanism of protein assembly clearly. Enormous protein-protein interactions, detected by high-throughput methods, necessitate finding fast methods for predicting the stability of protein assemblies in a quantitative and qualitative manner.

Enterolactone: A novel radiosensitizer for human breast cancer cell lines through impaired DNA repair and increased apoptosis.

Introduction: Radiotherapy is a potent treatment against breast cancer, which is the most commonly diagnosed cancer among women. However, the emergence of radioresistance due to increased DNA repair leads to radiotherapeutic failure. Applying polyphenols combined with radiation is a more promising method leading to better survival.

Journey of poly-nucleotides through OmpF porin.

OmpF is an abundant porin in many bacteria which attracts attention as a promising biological nanopore for DNA sequencing. We study the interactions of OmpF with pentameric poly-nucleotides (poly-Ns) in silico. The poly-N molecule is forced to translocate through the lumen of OmpF.

High prevalence of pfdhfr-pfdhps triple mutations associated with anti-malarial drugs resistance in Plasmodium falciparum isolates seven years after the adoption of sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine in combination with artesunate as first-line treatment in Iran.

The spread of anti-malarial drug resistance will challenge any malaria control and elimination strategies, and routine monitoring of resistance-associated molecular markers of commonly used anti-malarial drugs is very important. Therefore, in the present investigation, the extent of mutations/haplotypes in dhfr and dhps genes of Plasmodium falciparum isolates (n=72) was analyzed seven years after the introduction of sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine (SP) plus artesunate (AS) as first-line anti-malarial treatment in Iran using PCR-RFLP methods. The results showed that the majority of the patients (97.

Comparative analysis of the profiles of IgG subclass-specific responses to Plasmodium falciparum apical membrane antigen-1 and merozoite surface protein-1 in naturally exposed individuals living in malaria hypoendemic settings, Iran.

Background: Plasmodium falciparum apical membrane antigen-1 (PfAMA-1) and the 19-kDa C-terminal region of merozoite surface protein-1 (PfMSP-1₁₉) are candidate malaria vaccine antigens expressed on merozoites and sporozoites. This investigation was performed to evaluate simultaneously the naturally-acquired antibodies to PfAMA-1 and PfMSP-1₁₉ and to compare IgG subclass profiles to both antigens in naturally exposed individuals living in malaria hypoendemic areas in Iran to determine which antigen has better ability to detect sero-positive individuals infected with P. falciparum.

Lithium increases radiosensitivity by abrogating DNA repair in breast cancer spheroid culture.

Background: Lithium chloride (LiCl), a drug for bipolar disorder, has antiproliferative and apoptotic effects on certain breast cancer cell lines. This study was conducted to determine the effect of LiCl on radiosensitivity in a human breast cancer cell line in monolayer culture and the more realistic tumor model, multicellular tumor spheroid.

Methods: Monolayer and spheroid cells were treated with LiCl (20 mM) for 24 hours.

Antimanic drug sensitizes breast cancer cell line to ionizing radiation.

Breast cancer is one of the most prevalent types of cancer among women. Lithium chloride (LiCl) is an FDA-approved drug for bipolar disorder. Breast cancer is reported to occur with higher rate in women with bipolar disorder.

A folding pathway-dependent score to recognize membrane proteins.

While various approaches exist to study protein localization, it is still a challenge to predict where proteins localize. Here, we consider a mechanistic viewpoint for membrane localization. Taking into account the steps for the folding pathway of α-helical membrane proteins and relating biophysical parameters to each of these steps, we create a score capable of predicting the propensity for membrane localization and call it FP(3)mem.