130,514 research outputs found
Synthesis of dual action Smac/Zinc-Chelator conjugates as putative proapoptotic agents
No full textApoptosis, or programmed cell death, is a critical cell process in normal development and homeostasis of multicellular organisms. It is now recognized that dysfunction of the apoptosis machinery is a hallmark of cancer. Accordingly, targeting critical apoptosis regulators is an attractive approach for the development of new classes of therapies for the treatment of cancer and other human diseases.
The X-linked inhibitor of apoptosis protein (XIAP) is a member of IAP proteins that potently inhibit apoptosis[1]. XIAP contains three baculovirus IAP repeat (BIR) domains. The mechanism of action of XIAP entails its binding with initiator and effector caspases through its BIR domains. In cells, the anti-apoptotic function of XIAP is antagonized by Smac/DIABLO (second mitochondria-derived activator of caspases or direct IAP binding protein with low pI). Despite the rather complex structure of Smac, its short N-terminal AVPI sequence is sufficient to trigger the inactivation of anti-apoptotic XIAP[2]. Our research group has shown how small monomeric, AVPI-inspired Smac mimics can bind XIAP on its BIR3 domain with sub-micromolar potency[3,4]. Executioner caspase-3, -6 and -7 exist within the cytosol as inactive zymogens (procaspases) activated by limited proteolysis within their inter-domain linker, carried out by an initiator caspaseThe essential executioner caspase-3 is proteolytically activated by either caspase-8 or -9. Zinc ions co-localize with procaspase-3/caspase-3 and inhibit its enzymatic activity in the cell by direct interaction with an Asp-Asp-Asp (DDD) “safety catch” region[5]. Thus, in this work we coupled a zinc chelator moiety based on di(picolylamide)amine (DPA) and its N,N-bis(pyridin-2-ylmethyl)ethane-1,2-diamine (BPEN) derivative to pro-apoptotic Smac mimetics, synthesized starting from known intermediates 1 and 2.
Dual action Smac mimetic-zinc chelators 3 and 4 were prepared from compounds 1 and 2 as shown in Scheme 1 and characterized in vitro, using cell-free and cellular assays[6,7]. Their ability to bind XIAP BIR3 domain, to process pro-caspase-3 to caspase-3 and their cytotoxicity have been experimentally determined, and favorably compared with those of a potent Smac mimic compound, especially for the most potent, tribasic dual action compound 4. Furthermore, the Zinc affinity for both compounds was confirmed by fluorescence measurements.
References
1. Q. L. Deveraux, J. C. Reed. Genes & Dev. 1999, 13, 239-252
2. J. Chai, C. Du, J. W. Wu, S. Kyin, X. Wang, Y.Shi. Nature 2000, 406, 855-862
3. P. Seneci, A. Bianchi, C. Battaglia, L. Belvisi, M. Bolognesi, A. Caprini, F. Cossu, E. de Franco, M. de, D.
Delia, C. Drago, A. Khaled, D. Lecis, L. Manzoni, M. Marizzoni, E. Mastrangelo, M. Milani,I. Motto, E.
Moroni, D. Potenza, V. Rizzo, F. Servida, E. Turlizzi, M. Varrone, F. Vasile, C. Scolastico. Bioorg. Med.
Chem. 2009, 17, 5834–5856.
4. L. Manzoni, D. Arosio, L. Belvisi, A. Bracci, M. Colombo, D. Invernizzi, C. Scolastico. J. Org. Chem. 2005, 70,
4124-4132.
5. K. S. Putt, G. W. Chen, J. M. Pearson, J. S Sandhorst, M. S. Hoagland, J. Kwon, S. Hwang, H. Jin, M. I.
Churchwell, M. Cho, D. R. Doerge, W. G. Helferich, P. J. Hergenrother. Nat. Chem. Biol. 2006, 2, 543, 550
6. Z. Nikolovska-Coleska, R. Wang, X. Fang, H. Pan, Y. Tomita, P. Li, P.P. Roller, K. Krajewski, N.G. Saito, J.A.
Stuckey, S. Wang, Anal. Biochem. 2004, 332, 261-273.
7. Z. Nikolovska-Coleska, J.L. Meagher, S. Jiang, S.A. Kawamoto, W. Gao, H. Yi, D. Qin, P.P. Roller, J.A.
Stuckey, S. Wang, Anal. Biochem. 2008, 374, 87-98
Influence of aging in the temperature range 250–350 °C on the tribological performance of a WC-CoCr coating produced by HVOF
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Effects of thermomechanical treatments on Cu–Al–Mn Shape Memory Alloys
No full textIn this paper, the authors, building on the established state-of-the-art knowledge, explore the effects of thermomechanical treatments on the Shape Memory Effect (SME) and damping performance of the Cu–Al–Mn Shape Memory Alloys (SMA). Specifically, to explore the potential of application of this SMA in the form of sheets, for the purpose of designing lightweight structures with high damping performance. The casting and the thermomechanical treatment process were fully laid out in the paper. The characterization of the material in terms of chemical composition and microstructure was performed through optical microscopy and SEM coupled with EDX analysis. The temperature-induced phase transformation behavior of the alloy was explored using DSC. The damping performance was quantified through the loss factor which was measured at different levels of static tensile preload using a DMA machine. The alloy has shown significant workability which permits the fabrication of sheets. However, the material displays high sensitivity to oxidation due to a combined effect of impurities and the hot-rolling process necessary for obtaining thin SMA sheets. Nonetheless, the alloy shows competitive damping performance with respect to commercially available NiTi SMA
MeSH term explosion and author rank improve expert recommendations
No full textInformation overload is an often-cited phenomenon that reduces the productivity, efficiency and efficacy of scientists. One challenge for scientists is to find appropriate collaborators in their research. The literature describes various solutions to the problem of expertise location, but most current approaches do not appear to be very suitable for expert recommendations in biomedical research. In this study, we present the development and initial evaluation of a vector space model-based algorithm to calculate researcher similarity using four inputs: 1) MeSH terms of publications; 2) MeSH terms and author rank; 3) exploded MeSH terms; and 4) exploded MeSH terms and author rank. We developed and evaluated the algorithm using a data set of 17,525 authors and their 22,542 papers. On average, our algorithms correctly predicted 2.5 of the top 5/10 coauthors of individual scientists. Exploded MeSH and author rank outperformed all other algorithms in accuracy, followed closely by MeSH and author rank. Our results show that the accuracy of MeSH term-based matching can be enhanced with other metadata such as author rank
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
No full textThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
"Closing the R&D Gap, Evaluating the Sources of R&D Spending"
No full textBoth spending and tax policies have been implemented in the United States with the goal of stimulating private sector research and development (R&D). Karier questions whether current R&D policy, especially the research and experimentation tax credit, can contribute to closing the gap between nondefense expenditures on R&D in the United States and such expenditures in other countries, such as Japan and Germany. He also explores possible changes to our current R&D policy to make it more effective.
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