Scholarly Works, University Libraries

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Research articles, presentations, and other scholarship

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Browsing Scholarly Works, University Libraries by Department "Biochemistry"

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    Characterization and Validation of Arg286 Residue of IL-1RAcP as a Potential Drug Target for Osteoarthritis
    Dailing, Angela; Mitchell, Kelsey; Ngoc Vuong; Lee, Kyung Hyeon; Joshi, Reva; Espina, Virginia; Still, Amanda Haymond; Gottschalk, Carter J.; Brown, Anne M.; Paige, Mikell; Liotta, Lance A.; Luchini, Alessandra (2021-02-03)
    Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most common form of arthritis and the fastest growing cause of chronic disability in the world. Formation of the ternary IL-1 beta /IL-1R1/IL-1RAcP protein complex and its downstream signaling has been implicated in osteoarthritis pathology. Current OA therapeutic approaches target either the cytokine IL-1 beta or the primary receptor IL-1RI but do not exploit the potential of the secondary receptor IL-1RAcP. Our previous work implicated the Arg286 residue of IL-1RAcP as a key mediator of complex formation. Molecular modeling confirmed Arg286 as a high-energy mediator of the ternary IL-1 beta complex architecture and interaction network. Anti-IL-1RAcP monoclonal antibodies (mAb) targeting the Arg286 residue were created and were shown to effectively reduce the influx of inflammatory cells to damaged joints in a mouse model of osteoarthritis. Inhibitory peptides based on the native sequence of IL-1RAcP were prepared and examined for efficacy at disrupting the complex formation. The most potent peptide inhibitor had an IC50 value of 304 pM in a pull-down model of complex formation, and reduced IL-1 beta signaling in a cell model by 90% at 2 mu M. Overall, therapies that target the Arg286 region surface of IL-1RAcP, and disrupt subsequent interactions with subunits, have the potential to serve as next generation treatments for osteoarthritis.
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    Protein kinases in Toxoplasma gondii
    Gaji, Rajshekhar Y.; Sharp, Amanda K.; Brown, Anne M. (2021-05)
    Toxoplasma gondii is an obligatory intracellular pathogen that causes life threatening illness in immunodeficient individuals, miscarriage in pregnant woman, and blindness in newborn children. Similar to any other eukaryotic cell, protein kinases play critical and essential roles in the Toxoplasma life cycle. Accordingly, many studies have focused on identifying and defining the mechanism of function of these signalling proteins with a long-term goal to develop anti-Toxoplasma therapeutics. In this review, we briefly discuss classification and key components of the catalytic domain which are critical for functioning of kinases, with a focus on domains, families, and groups of kinases within Toxoplasma. More importantly, this article provides a comprehensive, current overview of research on kinase groups in Toxoplasma including the established eukaryotic AGC, CAMK, CK1, CMGC, STE, TKL families and the apicomplexan-specific FIKK, ROPK and WNG family of kinases. This work provides an overview and discusses current knowledge on Toxoplasma kinases including their localization, function, signalling network and role in acute and chronic pathogenesis, with a view towards the future in probing kinases as viable drug targets.
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    Structural, in silico, and functional analysis of a Disabled-2-derived peptide for recognition of sulfatides
    Song, Wei; Gottschalk, Carter J.; Tang, Tuo-Xian; Biscardi, Andrew; Ellena, Jeffrey F.; Finkielstein, Carla V.; Brown, Anne M.; Capelluto, Daniel G. S. (2020-08-11)
    Disabled-2 (Dab2) is an adaptor protein that regulates the extent of platelet aggregation by two mechanisms. In the first mechanism, Dab2 intracellularly downregulates the integrin alpha (IIb)beta (3) receptor, converting it to a low affinity state for adhesion and aggregation processes. In the second mechanism, Dab2 is released extracellularly and interacts with the pro-aggregatory mediators, the integrin alpha (IIb)beta (3) receptor and sulfatides, blocking their association to fibrinogen and P-selectin, respectively. Our previous research indicated that a 35-amino acid region within Dab2, which we refer to as the sulfatide-binding peptide (SBP), contains two potential sulfatide-binding motifs represented by two consecutive polybasic regions. Using molecular docking, nuclear magnetic resonance, lipid-binding assays, and surface plasmon resonance, this work identifies the critical Dab2 residues within SBP that are responsible for sulfatide binding. Molecular docking suggested that a hydrophilic region, primarily mediated by R42, is responsible for interaction with the sulfatide headgroup, whereas the C-terminal polybasic region contributes to interactions with acyl chains. Furthermore, we demonstrated that, in Dab2 SBP, R42 significantly contributes to the inhibition of platelet P-selectin surface expression. The Dab2 SBP residues that interact with sulfatides resemble those described for sphingolipid-binding in other proteins, suggesting that sulfatide-binding proteins share common binding mechanisms.