NANJING AGRICULTURAL UNIVERSITY THE ACADEMY OF SCIENCE IMAGE: THE TFOLD-PREDICTED PROTEIN STRUCTURE OF A BMPP COMPRISING (GGSGGPGGGPASAAANSASRATSNSP)N, THE RGD MOTIF FROM COLLAGEN AND THE IKVAV MOTIF FROM LAMININ, DESIGNED BY A RESEARCH TEAM FROM CHINA. BMPPS CAN ACTIVATE THE M1 PHENOTYPE OF MACROPHAGES, WHICH CAN BE USED FOR IMMUNOTHERAPY AGAINST CANCER. CREDIT: NA KONG FROM...
by University of Tsukuba Credit: Marko Aliaksandr/Shutterstock The kidneys perform a critical role in the body by removing waste and excess fluid in the form of urine. In a condition known as diabetic nephropathy, complications from diabetes disrupt the ability of the kidneys to function properly. Now, researchers in Japan have shed new light on a potential...
According to recent research, a set of 10 signaling proteins found in the microbe that causes tuberculosis [TB] play a far larger role in regulating the bacterium’s growth, development, and behavior than previously thought. The UW School of Medicine and Seattle Children’s researchers led the study. TB remains a deadly disease that kills more than...
by Virginia Commonwealth University Model for the functional interaction between Smad4 and Prdm16 during PDAC formation and progression. Credit: Journal of Cell Biology (2023). DOI: 10.1083/jcb.202203036 Scientists at VCU Massey Cancer Center have uncovered a previously unrecognized relationship between two sets of proteins that operate in tandem to fend off the growth of pancreatic cancer. The findings...
by Ingrid Fadelli, Medical Xpress Credit: Zhang et al Proteins, long polymers comprised of smaller constituents known as amino acids, play a crucial role in the functioning of the human body. Over the course of a human’s life, these “strings” of proteins fold into unique 3D structures or conformations, and this folding process affects how...
by American Chemical Society Graphical abstract. Credit: ACS Central Science (2023). DOI: 10.1021/acscentsci.2c01369 Certain diseases, including Alzheimer’s, are currently considered “undruggable” because traditional small molecule drugs can’t interfere with the proteins responsible for the illnesses. But a new technique that specifically targets and breaks apart certain proteins—rather than just interfering with them—may offer a pathway toward treatment....
by Queen Mary, University of London Credit: CC0 Public Domain New research has identified hundreds of proteins that might contribute to the onset of common, chronic metabolic diseases such as type 2 diabetes, and consequently pathways to potential treatments. The study, published in Nature Metabolism, was led by an international research team from the Medical Research Council...
by The Scripps Research Institute Researchers discovered that when the protein DNMT3B becomes S-nitrosylated in the presence of nitric oxide (NO), cancer-related genes become activated, leading to the proliferation of tumor cells. Credit: Scripps Research Scientists at Scripps Research, with collaborators in Japan, have discovered how a “poisoned” form of a protein could set off a cascade of...
The devil so often is in the details. There are devils and angels in their details for proteins that orchestrate the molecular business of life, down to the proteins’ constituent atoms. It’s at that level of structural minutiae where the balance of health and disease, even life and death, can pivot. Published online in the journal Cell, a...
PUSAN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY IMAGE: RESEARCHERS FROM PUSAN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY FIND THAT SUPPRESSING THE EXPRESSION OF SURF4 REDUCES PATHOLOGIC PROCESSES THAT CONTRIBUTE TO LEUKEMIA PROGRESSION CREDIT: PROFESSOR DONGJUN LEE, PUSAN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY Leukemia, a type of blood cancer, affected around 2.3 million people around the world in 2015. Acute myeloid leukemia (AML)—a particularly aggressive disease—generally starts...
