causes anthrax through a combination of bacterial infection and toxemia. As a major virulence factor of , anthrax lethal toxin (LT) is a zinc-dependent metalloproteinase, exerting its cytotoxicity through proteolytic cleavage of the mitogen-activated protein kinase kinases, thereby shutting down the MAPK pathways. Anthrax lethal toxin induces host lethality mostly by targeting the cardiovascular system.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMammary tumors are the most frequent type of neoplasms in intact female dogs. New therapies that target neoplastic cells without affecting normal cells are highly sought. The Bacillus anthracis toxin has been reengineered to target tumor cells that express urokinase plasminogen activators and metalloproteinases.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe detection of pathogens is critical for clinical diagnosis and public health surveillance. Detection is usually done with nucleic acid-based tests (NATs) and rapid antigen tests (e.g.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDiagnosis of infectious agents is increasingly done by the detection of unique nucleic acid sequences, typically using methods such as PCR that specifically amplify these sequences. A largely neglected alternative approach is to use antibodies that recognize nucleic acids. The unique monoclonal antibody S9.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFProc Natl Acad Sci U S A
January 2023
The limited efficacy of the current antitumor microenvironment strategies is due in part to the poor understanding of the roles and relative contributions of the various tumor stromal cells to tumor development. Here, we describe a versatile in vivo anthrax toxin protein delivery system allowing for the unambiguous genetic evaluation of individual tumor stromal elements in cancer. Our reengineered tumor-selective anthrax toxin exhibits potent antiproliferative activity by disrupting ERK signaling in sensitive cells.
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