Search results for "Small Molecule"

Ruthenium-arene complexes bearing naphthyl-substituted 1,3-dioxoindan-2-carboxamides ligands for G-quadruplex DNA recognition.

2019

Quadruplex nucleic acids – DNA/RNA secondary structures formed in guanine rich sequences – proved to have key roles in the biology of cancers and, as such, in recent years they emerged as promising targets for small molecules. Many reports demonstrated that metal complexes can effectively stabilize quadruplex structures, promoting telomerase inhibition, downregulation of the expression of cancer-related genes and ultimately cancer cell death. Although extensively explored as anticancer agents, studies on the ability of ruthenium arene complexes to interact with quadruplex nucleic acids are surprisingly almost unknown. Herein, we report on the synthesis and characterization of four novel Ru(…

Crystallography of encapsulated molecules.

2017

The crystallography of supramolecular host–guest complexes is reviewed and discussed as a part of small molecule crystallography. In these complexes, the host binds the guests through weak supramolecular interactions, such as hydrogen and halogen bonding, cation–π, anion–π, C–H–π, π–π, C–H–anion interactions and the hydrophobic effect. As the guest often shows severe disorder, large thermal motion and low occupancies, the reliable crystallographic determination of the guest can be very demanding. The analysis of host–guest interactions using tools such as Hirshfeld and cavity volume surface analysis will help to look closely at the most important host–guest interactions. The jewel in the cr…

Structure-Based Design of an RNA-Bindingp-Terphenylene Scaffold that Inhibits HIV-1 Rev Protein Function

2013

Inside Back Cover: Structure-Based Design of an RNA-Bindingp-Terphenylene Scaffold that Inhibits HIV-1 Rev Protein Function (Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 50…

2013

Molecular modeling approaches in the discovery of new drugs for anti-cancer therapy: the investigation of p53-MDM2 interaction and its inhibition by …

2010

The mdm2 oncogene product, MDM2, is an ubiquitin protein ligase that inhibits the transcriptional activity of the tumor suppressor p53 and promotes its degradation. About 50% of all human cancers present mutations or deletions in the TP53 gene. In the remaining half of all human neoplasias that express the wild-type protein, aberrations of p53 regula- tors, such as MDM2, account for p53 inhibition. For this reason, designing small-molecule inhibitors of the p53-MDM2 protein-protein interaction is a promising strategy for the treatment of cancers retaining wild-type p53. The development of inhibitors has been challenging. Although many small-molecule MDM2 inhibitors have shown potent in vitr…

Genotype analysis of colorectal carcinomas through laser pressare catapulting (LPC)

2007

Recently, new chemotherapy agents which target the non-structural components of mitosis have been developed. An important protein involved in several mitotic phases is the Aurora-A protein. By means of the phosphorylation of different substrates, Aurora-A regulates the correct development of the various phases of mitosis. The kinase activity of this protein makes Aurora-A an excellent candidate as an oncogene. The first data of Aurora-A involvement in cancer regarded the identification of Aurora-A overexpression in primary breast and colon tumour samples. With regard to the predictive role of Aurora-A, it has been shown that its overexpression disrupts the spindle checkpoint activated by pa…

Signal transduction pathways of the epidermal growth factor receptor in colorectal cancer and their inhibition by small molecules.

2012

While prognostic factors can help to classify the standard risk of subpopulations of patients with the same tumor entity, it is still not possible to predict the response of individual patients to specific therapies. The reason for such wide variation in cancer therapy responses remains largely unknown. The field of chemotherapy is currently undergoing a paradigm shift from classical cytotoxic chemotherapy to targeted therapy in order to kill tumor cells more efficiently with fewer side effects on normal tissue. In the present review, we focus on colorectal carcinoma, which is one of the most frequent tumor types worldwide and represents a leading cause of cancer-related deaths. The signali…

Construction of Chimeric Dual-Chain Avidin by Tandem Fusion of the Related Avidins

2011

BackgroundAvidin is a chicken egg-white protein with high affinity to vitamin H, also known as D-biotin. Many applications in life science research are based on this strong interaction. Avidin is a homotetrameric protein, which promotes its modification to symmetrical entities. Dual-chain avidin, a genetically engineered avidin form, has two circularly permuted chicken avidin monomers that are tandem-fused into one polypeptide chain. This form of avidin enables independent modification of the two domains, including the two biotin-binding pockets; however, decreased yields in protein production, compared to wt avidin, and complicated genetic manipulation of two highly similar DNA sequences i…

Obese Rats Exhibit High Levels of Fat Necrosis and Isoprostanes in Taurocholate-Induced Acute Pancreatitis

2012

BACKGROUND: Obesity is a prognostic factor for severity in acute pancreatitis in humans. Our aim was to assess the role of oxidative stress and abdominal fat in the increased severity of acute pancreatitis in obese rats. METHODOLOGY: Taurocholate-induced acute pancreatitis was performed in lean and obese Zucker rats. Levels of reduced glutathione, oxidized glutathione, L-cysteine, cystine, and S-adenosylmethionine were measured in pancreas as well as the activities of serine/threonine protein phosphatases PP1 and PP2A and tyrosin phosphatases. Isoprostane, malondialdehyde, triglyceride, and free fatty acid levels and lipase activity were measured in plasma and ascites. Lipase activity was m…

Aspartoacylase-lacZ knockin mice: an engineered model of Canavan disease.

2011

Canavan Disease (CD) is a recessive leukodystrophy caused by loss of function mutations in the gene encoding aspartoacylase (ASPA), an oligodendrocyte-enriched enzyme that hydrolyses N-acetylaspartate (NAA) to acetate and aspartate. The neurological phenotypes of different rodent models of CD vary considerably. Here we report on a novel targeted aspa mouse mutant expressing the bacterial β-Galactosidase (lacZ) gene under the control of the aspa regulatory elements. X-Gal staining in known ASPA expression domains confirms the integrity of the modified locus in heterozygous aspa lacZ-knockin (aspa(lacZ/+)) mice. In addition, abundant ASPA expression was detected in Schwann cells. Homozygous (…