Publications by authors named "Rikana Takahashi"

Human relaxin-2 (H2 relaxin) is a peptide hormone of about 6 kDa, first identified as a reproductive hormone involved in vasoregulation during pregnancy. It has recently attracted strong interest because of its diverse functions, including anti-inflammatory, anti-fibrotic, and vasodilatory, and has been suggested as a potential peptide-based drug candidate for a variety of diseases. Mature H2 relaxin is constituted by the A- and B-chains stabilized by two interchain disulfide (SS) bridges and one intrachain SS linkage.

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We report the first example of a synthetic thiol-based compound that promotes oxidative protein folding upon 1-equivalent loading to the disulfide bonds in the client protein to afford the native form in over 70% yield. -Methylation is a central post-translational processing of proteins for regulating functions including chaperone activities. Despite the universally observed biochemical reactions in nature, -methylation has hardly been utilized in the design, functionalization, and switching of synthetic bioregulatory agents, particularly folding promotors.

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