Novel therapeutic peptides are increasingly making their way into clinical application. The cationic and amphipathic properties of certain peptides allow them to cross biological membranes in a non-disruptive way without apparent toxicity increasing drug bioavailability. By modifying the primary structure of the Limulus-derived LALF(32-51) peptide we designed a novel peptide, L-2, with antineoplastic effect and cell-penetrating capacity. Interestingly, L-2 induced cellular cytotoxicity in a variety of tumor cell lines and systemic injection into immunocompetent and nude mice bearing established solid tumor, resulted in substantial regression of the tumor mass and apoptosis. To isolate the gene transcripts specifically regulated by L-2 in tumor cells, we conducted suppressive subtractive hybridization (SSH) analysis and identified a set of genes involved in biological processes relevant to cancer biology. Our findings describe a novel peptide that modifies the gene expression of the tumor cells and exhibits antitumor effect in vivo, indicating that peptide L-2 is a potential candidate for anticancer therapy.

The injection of contaminated isotonic sodium chloride solution through the venous catheters of attendees at the clinic likely provided the opportunity for bloodstream infections in these 27 case patients. This outbreak highlights the need for continued emphasis on safe injection practices and suggests the need for guidelines and recommendations tailored to outpatient settings.

beta-Fructofuranosidases share a conserved aspartic acid-containing motif (Arg-Asp-Pro; RDP) which is absent from alpha-glucopyranosidases. The role of Asp-309 located in the RDP motif of levansucrase (EC 2.4.1.10) from Acetobacter diazotrophicus SRT4 was studied by site-directed mutagenesis. Substitution of Asp-309 by Asn did not affect enzyme secretion. The kcat of the mutant levansucrase was reduced 75-fold, but its Km was similar to that of the wild-type enzyme, indicating that Asp-309 plays a major role in catalysis. The two levansucrases showed optimal activity at pH 5.0 and yielded similar product profiles. Thus the mutation D309N affected the efficiency of sucrose hydrolysis, but not the enzyme specificity. Since the RDP motif is present in a conserved position in fructosyltransferases, invertases, levanases, inulinases and sucrose-6-phosphate hydrolases, it is likely to have a common functional role in beta-fructofuranosidases.

The prospective space-time scan statistic offers local health departments an objective way of describing clusters of shigellosis cases. The method used in this study could help prioritize the assignment and investigation of cases, particularly when overall shigellosis incidence exceeds expected numbers or when an agency's resources are stressed by other events, such as outbreaks.

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A protein of molecular weight of 64 kDa (p64k) found in the outer membrane of Neisseria meningitidis shows a high degree of homology with both the lipoyl domain of the acetyltransferase and the entire sequence of the lipoamide dehydrogenase, the E2 and E3 components of the dehydrogenase multienzyme complexes, respectively. The alignment of the p64k with lipoyl domains and lipoamide dehydrogenases from different species is presented. The possible implications of this protein in binding protein-dependent transport are discussed. This is the first lipoamide dehydrogenase reported to have a lipoyl domain.

No abstract

Relative gene quantification by quantitative reverse transcription PCR (qRT-PCR) is an accurate technique only when a correct normalization strategy is carried out. Some of the most commonly genes used as reference have demonstrated variation after interferon (IFN) treatments. In this work we evaluated the suitability of seven reference genes (RGs) [glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH), hydroxymethylbilane synthase (HMBS), β-2Microglobulin (B2M), ribosomal RNA subunits 18S and 28S, tyrosine 3-monooxygenase/tryptophan 5-monooxygenase activation protein, zeta polypeptide (YWHAZ) and the RNA helicase (DDX5)] for use in qRT-PCR assays in the glioblastoma-derived cell line U87MG treated with IFNα, IFNγ or a co-formulated combination of both IFNs (HeberPAG); untreated cell lines were included as control. Data was analyzed using geNorm and NormFinder softwares. The expression stability of the seven RGs decreased in order of DDX5/GAPDH/HMBS, 18S rRNA, YWHAZ, 28S rRNA and B2M. qRT-PCR analyses demonstrated that DDX5, GAPDH and HMBS were among the best stably expressed markers under all conditions. Both, geNorm and NormFinder, analyses proposed same RGs as the least variables. Evaluation of the expression levels of two target genes utilizing different endogenous controls, using REST-MCS software, revealed that the normalization method applied might introduce errors in the estimation of relative quantities. We concluded that when qRT-PCR is designed for studies of gene expression in U87MG cell lines treated with IFNs type I and II or their combinations, the use of all three GAPDH, HMBS and DDX5 (or their combinations in pairs) as RGs for data normalizations is recommended.