Alterations in protein folding and the regulation of conformational states have become increasingly important to the functionality of key molecules in signaling, cell growth, and cell death. Molecular chaperones, because of their properties in protein quality control, afford conformational flexibility to proteins and serve to integrate stress-signaling events that influence aging and a range of diseases including cancer, cystic fibrosis, amyloidoses, and neurodegenerative diseases. We describe here characteristics of celastrol, a quinone methide triterpene and an active component from Chinese herbal medicine identified in a screen of bioactive small molecules that activates the human heat shock response. From a structure/function examination, the celastrol structure is remarkably specific and activates heat shock transcription factor 1 (HSF1) with kinetics similar to those of heat stress, as determined by the induction of HSF1 DNA binding, hyperphosphorylation of HSF1, and expression of chaperone genes. Celastrol can activate heat shock gene transcription synergistically with other stresses and exhibits cytoprotection against subsequent exposures to other forms of lethal cell stress. These results suggest that celastrols exhibit promise as a new class of pharmacologically active regulators of the heat shock response.

A gemini surfactant is an amphiphile possessing (in sequence) the following: hydrocarbon tail/polar group/spacer/polar group/hydrocarbon tail. Widespread interest in geminis has emerged recently from both industrial and academic laboratories. In the present contribution, two related families of geminis have been synthesized, both with trehalose, a disaccharide, as a polar spacer. One family, Series-A, is nonionic and has amide groups separating the long chains from the trehalose spacer. The other family, Series-B, has quaternary ammonium ions connecting the long chains to the trehalose spacer. It was found that Series-A geminis are water insoluble despite the two amides and multiple hydroxyls. When hydrated or extruded, these geminis form microscopically visible vesicular and tubular structures above their transition temperatures (which were determined calorimetrically). Insoluble monomolecular films, constructed from these geminis, have interfacial areas that are dominated by the sugar spacer although intermolecular chain/chain interactions seem to stabilize the films. Thus, the behavior of Series-A geminis in many ways parallels that of phospholipids and simple double-chain surfactants. It is as if the trehalose is less of a spacer than a large but conventional headgroup. In contrast, cationic Series-B geminis are water soluble and form micelles with critical micelle concentrations an order of magnitude lower than that of corresponding conventional surfactants. Molecular modeling using the Amber force field explains the difference in properties between the two families of geminis. Series-A are tubular in shape and thus prefer bilayer packing as do other amphiphiles in which the headgroups are similar in width to the sum of the tail diameters. Series-B geminis are conical-shaped and pack more readily into spherical micelles. This work entails synthesis, tensiometry, conductance, microscopy, surface balance studies, calorimetry, light scattering, and molecular modeling. In colloid chemistry, a balanced perspective cannot be achieved by one methodology alone but only through the pursuit of consilience among multiple approaches.

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[structure: see text]. Three steroids, each bearing a sugar on rings A and D, have been synthesized. Their effect on the "melting" behavior of a lipid bilayer depends on whether the sugar is glucose, galactose, or mannose. Packing constraints dictate how the lipid bilayer responds to the sugars.