A two-step approach to the production of well-defined protein conjugates is described. In the first step, a linker group, carbohydrazide, having unique reactivity (a hydrazide group) is attached specifically to the carboxyl terminus by using enzyme-catalyzed reverse proteolysis. Since the hydrazide group exists nowhere else on the protein, specificity is assured in a subsequent chemical reaction (formation of a hydrazone bond) of the modified protein with a molecule (chelator, drug, or polypeptide) carrying an aldehyde or keto group. The product is sufficiently stable at neutral pH, no reduction of the hydrazone bond being necessary for the hydrazones described. Protein modification is thus restricted to the carboxyl terminus and a homogeneous product results. With insulin as a model, conditions are described for producing such well-defined conjugates in good yields. The use of other linker groups besides carbohydrazide, and applications of these techniques to antibody fragments, are discussed.
Download full-text PDF |
Source |
---|---|
http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/bc00009a004 | DOI Listing |
ACS Chem Biol
January 2025
Department of Chemistry, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois 60208, United States.
Conventional small-molecule drugs primarily operate by inhibiting protein function, but this approach is limited when proteins lack well-defined ligand-binding pockets. Targeted protein degradation (TPD) offers an alternative approach by harnessing cellular degradation pathways to eliminate specific proteins. Recent studies have expanded the potential of TPD by identifying additional E3 ligases, with DCAF16 emerging as a promising candidate for facilitating protein degradation through both proteolysis-targeting chimera (PROTAC) and molecular glue mechanisms.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEcotoxicol Environ Saf
January 2025
College of Animal Science, Jilin University, Jilin Provincial Key Laboratory of Livestock and Poultry Feed and Feeding In Northeastern Frigid Area, Changchun 130062, China. Electronic address:
Excessive copper (Cu) has the potential risk to ecosystems and organism health, with its impact on dairy cow mammary glands being not well-defined. This study used a bovine mammary epithelial cell (MAC-T) model to explore how copper excess affects cellular oxidative stress, autophagy, ferroptosis, and protein and lipid biosynthesis in milk. Results showed the increased intracellular ROS, MDA, and CAT (P < 0.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAdv Sci (Weinh)
January 2025
State Key Laboratory of Chemical Oncogenomics, School of Chemical Biology and Biotechnology, Peking University Shenzhen Graduate School, Shenzhen, 518055, P. R. China.
Adjuvants are non-specific immune enhancers commonly used to improve the responsiveness and persistence of the immune system toward antigens. However, due to the undefined chemical structure, toxicity, non-biodegradability, and lack of design technology in many existing adjuvants, it remains difficult to achieve substantive breakthroughs in the adjuvant research field. Here, a novel adjuvant development strategy based on stapling peptides is reported to overcome this challenge.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFLangmuir
January 2025
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware 19716, United States.
We synthesized rigid, macromolecular brushes with well-defined and quantized brush lengths on a gold nanoparticle substrate by using a macromolecular "grafting from" approach. The macromonomers used in these brushes were thiol- and maleimide-functionalized peptide coiled coil "bundlemers" that fold into discrete 4 nm × 2 nm (length × diameter) cylindrical nanoparticles. With each added peptide macromonomer layer, brush thickness increased by approximately the length of a single bundlemer nanoparticle.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPharmacogenet Genomics
January 2025
Department of Pharmacology & Toxicology and Brown Cancer Center, University of Louisville School of Medicine, Louisville, Kentucky, USA.
Objective: Heterocyclic amines (HCAs) are mutagens and carcinogens primarily generated when cooking meat at high temperatures or until well-done, and their major metabolic pathway includes hepatic N-hydroxylation via CYP1A2 followed by O-acetylation via N-acetyltransferase 2 (NAT2). NAT2 expresses a well-defined genetic polymorphism in humans resulting in rapid and slow acetylators. Recent epidemiological studies reported significant associations between dietary HCA exposure and insulin resistance and type II diabetes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEnter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!