Increasing the melting temperature of VHH with the in silico free energy score.

VHH, the antigen-binding fragment of a heavy chain-only antibody, is a useful component of antibody-based therapeutics. Thermal stability, represented by the melting temperature (Tm), is one of the key factors affecting the developability of antibody-based therapeutics. In this study, we examined whether the in silico free energy score dStability can be used to design mutants with improved Tm compared to the anti-lysozyme VHH, D3-L11.

A covalent small molecule inhibitor of glutamate-oxaloacetate transaminase 1 impairs pancreatic cancer growth.

Metabolic programs are rewired in cancer cells to support survival and tumor growth. Among these, recent studies have demonstrated that glutamate-oxaloacetate transaminase 1 (GOT1) plays key roles in maintaining redox homeostasis and proliferation of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinomas (PDA). This suggests that small molecule inhibitors of GOT1 could have utility for the treatment of PDA.

Measurement of development of cognitive and attention functions in children using continuous performance test.

Aim: The development of attention function in children is still not sufficiently clear. Although it is difficult to objectively assess attention function, continuous performance tests (CPT) can be used to objectively assess cognitive function along with attention. The development of cognitive and attention functions was examined in children using a CPT.

Crystallization and preliminary X-ray crystallographic studies of the axin DIX domain.

Axin is a negative regulator of the canonical Wnt signalling pathway that mediates the phosphorylation of beta-catenin by glycogen synthase kinase 3beta. The DIX domain of rat axin, which is important for its homooligomerization and interactions with other regulators in the Wnt pathway, was purified and crystallized by the sitting-drop vapour-diffusion technique using polyethylene glycol 6000 and lithium sulfate as crystallization agents. Crystals belong to space group P6(1) or P6(5), with unit-cell parameters a = b = 91.

Effects of E. coli chaperones on the solubility of human receptors in an in vitro expression system.

The implementation of efficient technologies for the production of recombinant mammalian membrane receptors is an outstanding challenge in understanding receptor-ligand actions and the development of therapeutic antibodies. In order to improve the solubility of recombinant extracellular domains of human membrane receptors expressed in Escherichia coli, proteins were synthesized by an E. coli in vitro translation system supplemented with bacterial molecular chaperones, such as GroEL-GroES (GroEL/ES), Trigger factor (TF), a DnaK-DnaJ-GrpE chaperone system (DnaKJE), and/or a heat shock protein Hsp100, ClpB.