Publications by authors named "Nico Boback"
Article Synopsis
- In cystic fibrosis (CF) patients, increased disulfide crosslinking in mucins leads to thicker mucus, causing dysfunction; researchers developed a new compound, dPGS-SH, to reduce these crosslinks.
- dPGS-SH shows strong mucolytic activity in sputum from CF patients, outperforming the existing treatment NAC in terms of reducing multimer intensity of key mucins and improving mucus properties.
- The new polymer, dPGS-SH, is stable, non-toxic, and effective across various pH levels, suggesting it could be a promising option for enhancing mucus clearance in CF and related lung diseases.
Article Synopsis
- Lung surfactant collectins, SP-A and SP-D, are proteins that play a crucial role in lung immunity by recognizing carbohydrates on pathogens and initiating immune responses.* -
- Research using microscale thermophoresis found that SP-A and SP-D bind strongly to glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) like hyaluronan and heparan sulfate, with binding that is not affected by calcium levels.* -
- The study indicates that these proteins not only target pathogens but also interact with the alveolar epithelial glycocalyx, which may influence its composition and structure, suggesting a broader role for SP-A and SP-D in lung health beyond just surfactant lipid interaction.*
Uridine diphosphate N-acetylglucosamine 2-epimerase (GNE) is a key enzyme in the sialic acid biosynthesis pathway. Sialic acids are primarily terminal carbohydrates on glycans and play fundamental roles in health and disease. In search of effective GNE inhibitors not based on a carbohydrate scaffold, we performed a high-throughput screening campaign of 68,640 drug-like small molecules against recombinant GNE using a UDP detection assay.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe photochemical activation of the C()-C() bond in Pt(0)-η-aryl-phosphaalkyne complexes leads selectively to coordination compounds of the type LPt(aryl)(C≡P). The oxidative addition reaction is a novel, clean, and atom-economic route for the synthesis of reactive terminal Pt(II)-cyaphido complexes, which can undergo [3 + 2] cycloaddition reactions with organic azides, yielding the corresponding Pt(II)-triazaphospholato complexes. The C-C bond cleavage reaction is thermodynamically uphill.
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