Discovery Holds Promise For New Effective Cancer Therapies Sep 4, 2009
The Therrien-Sicheri team is the first to show that the dimerization, or combination, of two RAF proteins is essential to its activation. Inhibiting the dimerization of RAF may therefore block its activation, thus stopping cancer cells from growing ... The Therrien-Sicheri team intends to jointly pursue work in this area to identify drug-like molecules to block the dimerization process of RAF, which may possibly lead to the discovery of new classes of anti-cancer agents. (Science Daily)
New Computer Simulation Helps Explain Folding In Important Cellular Protein Aug 11, 2009
In the current paper, the research team developed a two-step Monte Carlo procedure to investigate, for glycophorin A (GpA), an important biochemical process called dimerization ... The first step in studying the dimerization process was to estimate those states in GpA using Wang-Landau. (Science Daily)
Link uncovered between viral RNA and human immune response Aug 5, 2009
"To get two PKRs to bind and dimerize, you need an RNA strand that is twice as long." Cole's laboratory provided evidence of dimerization of RNA and PKR. ... TAR RNA dimerization activated the most PKR when the TAR did not exhibit structural defects. (EurekAlert!)
Alzheimer's Disease Linked To Mitochondrial Damage Apr 5, 2009
Molecular modeling performed by the team suggested that S-nitrosylation of Drp1 causes dimerization of the protein and activation of enzymatic activity that induces mitochondrial fragmentation. To confirm this hypothesis, the scientists showed that RNA interference to knock down Drp1 or a mutation that prevented Drp1 activity inhibited excess mitochondrial fragmentation and protected the neurons. (Science Daily)
Therapeutic harvest from transgenic tobacco Mar 20, 2009
The recombinant proteins were purified from transgenic leaf material and characterized in terms of their N-glycan composition, dimerization and biological activity in in vitro assays. Both molecules formed stable dimers, were able to activate the IL-10 signaling pathway and to induce specific anti-inflammatory responses in mouse J774 macrophage cells. (BioMed Central)
Hepatitis C: Key Molecules That Inhibit Viral Production Identified Mar 17, 2009
16, 2009) In a new study, led by Professor Donny Strosberg of Scripps Florida, researchers describe peptides (molecules of two or more amino acids) derived from the core protein of hepatitis C. The team found that these peptides inhibit not only dimerization of the core protein (the joining of two identical subunits), but also production of the actual virus itself ... Looking closely at the core interaction with itself, Strosberg developed several novel quantitative assays or tests for... (Science Daily)
Id2 promotes the invasive growth of MCF-7 and SKOV-3 cells by a novel mechanism independent of dimerization to basic helix-loop-helix factors Mar 4, 2009
Overexpression of Id2 in ERa-positive epithelial tumor cells indeed increases the cells' invasive potential through a novel mechanism independent of dimerization to basic helix-loop-helix factors. E-cadherin contributes only in part to Id2-induced cell invasion when Id2 is accumulated to a higher level in some specific cell types. (BioMed Central)
