Search results for " Translational"

Comparative study on biological effects of the guinea pig complement-peptide C3a and C3a-related synthetic oligopeptides

1980

Dose-response experiments with guinea pig C3a and a synthetic hexapeptide (amino acid residues 72–77), representing the COOH-terminal sequence of human C3a, were performed in two recently described bioassay systems for C3a, i.e. cytotoxicity against tumor cells measured as LDH and 51Cr-release and non cytolytic serotonin release from guinea pig platelets. Compared to the classical anaphylatoxic assay (guinea pig ileum contraction), nearly identical reactivities were observed in all three test systems with C3a and, although quantitatively different, with hexapeptide.

The Porto European Cancer Research Summit 2021.

2021

Key stakeholders from the cancer research continuum met in May 2021 at the European Cancer Research Summit in Porto to discuss priorities and specific action points required for the successful implementation of the European Cancer Mission and Europe's Beating Cancer Plan (EBCP). Speakers presented a unified view about the need to establish high‐quality, networked infrastructures to decrease cancer incidence, increase the cure rate, improve patient's survival and quality of life, and deal with research and care inequalities across the European Union (EU). These infrastructures, featuring Comprehensive Cancer Centres (CCCs) as key components, will integrate care, prevention and research acros…

Enhancement of premature stop codon readthrough in the CFTR gene by Ataluren (PTC124) derivatives.

2015

Abstract Premature stop codons are the result of nonsense mutations occurring within the coding sequence of a gene. These mutations lead to the synthesis of a truncated protein and are responsible for several genetic diseases. A potential pharmacological approach to treat these diseases is to promote the translational readthrough of premature stop codons by small molecules aiming to restore the full-length protein. The compound PTC124 (Ataluren) was reported to promote the readthrough of the premature UGA stop codon, although its activity was questioned. The potential interaction of PTC124 with mutated mRNA was recently suggested by molecular dynamics (MD) studies highlighting the importanc…

Therapeutic afucosylated monoclonal antibody and bispecific T-cell engagers for T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia

2021

BackgroundT-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) is an aggressive disease with a poor cure rate for relapsed/resistant patients. Due to the lack of T-cell restricted targetable antigens, effective immune-therapeutics are not presently available and the treatment of chemo-refractory T-ALL is still an unmet clinical need. To develop novel immune-therapy for T-ALL, we generated an afucosylated monoclonal antibody (mAb) (ahuUMG1) and two different bispecific T-cell engagers (BTCEs) against UMG1, a unique CD43-epitope highly and selectively expressed by T-ALL cells from pediatric and adult patients.MethodsUMG1 expression was assessed by immunohistochemistry (IHC) on a wide panel of normal t…

Editorial: Zebrafish Epigenetics.

2022

A key area of focus in the field of epigenetics pertains the comprehension of the functional relevance of the epigenetic mechanisms occurring during embryogenesis to shape normal developmental trajectories and adult phenotypes (Atlasi and Stunnenberg, 2017; Skvortsova et al., 2018; Cavalieri, 2021; Marchione et al., 2021). Several lines of evidence highlighted that the small freshwater cyprinid Danio rerio, commonly known as zebrafish, is an excellent vertebrate model for research purposes in the field of epigenetics (Huang et al., 2013; Balasubramanian et al., 2019; Horsfield, 2019; Cavalieri, 2020). The general strengths of zebrafish over concurrent models are well known: ease of husbandr…

Cloning and expression of new receptors belonging to the immunoglobulin superfamily from the marine sponge Geodia cydonium

1999

A cDNA encoding a receptor tyrosine kinase (RTK) was previously cloned and expressed from the marine sponge (Porifera) Geodia cydonium. In addition to the two intracellular regions characteristic for RTKs, two immunoglobulin (Ig)-like domains are found in the extracellular part of the sponge RTK. In the present study it is shown that no further Ig-like domain is present in the upstream region of the cDNA as well as of the gene hitherto known from the sponge RTK. Two different full-length cDNAs have been isolated and characterized in the present study, which possess two Ig-like domains, one transmembrane segment, and only a short intracellular part, without a TK domain. The two deduced polyp…

On the moving loads problem in discontinuous homogeneous beams and layered beams with interlayer slip

This manuscript contains the main part of my research performed in this last triennium at the Department of Civil, Environmental, Aerospace and Materials Engineering, University of Palermo, and at the Department of Basic Sciences in Engineering Sciences (Unit of Applied Mechanics), University of Innsbruck, Austria. The research adheres to a common procedure of solving a scientistic problem. That is, introduction to the problem, selection of the mathematical and physical tools to model the problem, proposed solution, and numerical validation. The thesis proposes a novel modal superposition approach to the moving loads problem on discontinuous homogeneous beam and layered beam with interlayer…

Molecular interaction of artemisinin with translationally controlled tumor protein (TCTP) of Plasmodium falciparum

2012

Malaria causes millions of death cases per year. Since Plasmodium falciparum rapidly develops drug resistance, it is of high importance to investigate potential drug targets which may lead to novel rational therapy approaches. Here we report on the interaction of translationally controlled tumor protein of P. falciparum (PfTCTP) with the anti-malarial drug artemisinin. Furthermore, we investigated the crystal structure of PfTCTP. Using mass spectrometry, bioinformatic approaches and surface plasmon resonance spectroscopy, we identified novel binding sites of artemisinin which are in direct neighborhood to amino acids 19-46, 108-134 and 140-163. The regions covered by these residues are know…

Regression of advanced rat and human gliomas by local or systemic treatment with oncolytic parvovirus H-1 in rat models

2010

Oncolytic virotherapy is a potential treatment modality under investigation for various malignancies including malignant brain tumors. Unlike some other natural or modified viruses that show oncolytic activity against cerebral neoplasms, the rodent parvovirus H-1 (H-1PV) is completely apathogenic in humans. H-1PV efficiently kills a number of tumor cells without harm to corresponding normal ones. In this study, the concept of H-1PV-based virotherapy of glioma was tested for rat (RG-2 cell-derived) and for human (U87 cell-derived) gliomas in immunocompetent and immunodeficient rat models, respectively. Large orthotopic rat and human glioma cell-derived tumors were treated with either single …

Concomitant cellular expression of heat shock regulated genes of hepatitis B virus surface antigen and of human growth hormone by a NIH-3T3 cell line.

1993

A plasmid carrying a DNA fragment of hepatitis B virus, coding for the pre-S2 and the entire S region of the surface antigen (HBsAg), placed under the control of the promoter of the human 70 kDa heat shock protein gene (hsp70), was introduced into Line 6, a recombinant cell line that was selected from NIH-3T3 cells previously transfected with a similar construct coding for the human growth hormone cDNA gene (chGH) and with the plasmid pEJ carrying the Ha-rasEJ activated cellular oncogene. The resulting cell line, EMS8, expressed: (1) hsp70/HBsAg and hsp70/hGH hybrid genes, (2) the human Ha-rasEJ oncogene, and (3) the neomycin resistance gene, the two last plasmid markers being used for cell…