The 70-kDa microbial heat shock protein (mHSP70) has a profound effect on the immune system, interacting with the CD40 receptor on DC and monocytes to produce cytokines and chemokines. The mHSP70 also induces maturation of dendritic cells (DC) and thus acts as an alternative ligand to CD40L on T cells. In this investigation, we have identified a cytokine-stimulating epitope (peptide 407-426), b...

Peptide identification by tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) is one of the most important problems in proteomics. Recent advances in high throughput MS/MS experiments result in huge amount of spectra, and the peptide identification process should keep pace. In this paper, we strive to achieve high accuracy and efficiency for peptide identification with the presence of noise by a two-phase filteri...

Cathepsin D, purified from bovine and rabbit liver, hydrolyzed primarily one peptide bond in the Al protein from bovine central nervous system myelin, the Phe-Phe bond between residues 42 and 43. Surprisingly, the other PhePhe linkage (residues 88 to 89) was not cleaved. In view of the high affinity of cathepsin D for the Phe-Phe bond, it was postulated that the resistant linkage was protected ...

Cathepsin D, purified from bovine and rabbit liver, hydrolyzed primarily one peptide bond in the Al protein from bovine central nervous system myelin, the Phe-Phe bond between residues 42 and 43. Surprisingly, the other PhePhe linkage (residues 88 to 89) was not cleaved. In view of the high affinity of cathepsin D for the Phe-Phe bond, it was postulated that the resistant linkage was protected ...

Objective(s): Somatostatin receptor-positive neuroendocrine tumors have been targeted using various peptide analogs radiolabeled with therapeutic radionuclides for years. The better biomedical properties of radioantagonists as higher tumor uptake make these radioligands more attractive than agonists for somatostatin receptor-targeted radionuclide therapy. In this study...

Zoonotic cutaneous leishmaniasis caused by Leishmania major is a most common type of vector-borne disease in Iran. The pentavalent antimonial drugs have been used in the treatment of cutaneous leishmaniasis for a long time, but drug resistance and some of serious side effects have been reported. Thus, discovery and development of new therapeutic candidates are needed. The CM11 peptide ...

The major nontubulin proteins in purified brain microtubules are high molecular weight species traditionally classified into two groups known as microtubule-associated proteins 1 and 2 (MAP 1 and MAP 2). In an earlier study, we found that MAP 1 consisted of a complex of polypeptides and we characterized the highest molecular weight species--MAP 1A--with the use of a monoclonal antibody. In the ...

Random peptide libraries (RPL) displayed on the surface of filamentous bacteriophages have been extensively used as a tool to map epitopes or to identify antigenic mimics (mimotpoes) of disease-specific monoclonal antibodies or polyclonal sera. These RPL are engineered by the insertion of degenerate oligonucleotides, encoding a specific number of random amino acids, in frame with a bacteriophag...

Nesfatin-1 is a recently discovered hypothalamic peptide that was shown to suppress food intake through a melanocortin-3/4 receptor-dependent mechanism. Since nesfatin-1 mRNA is detected in the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus, and because many peptides that alter food intake also influence cardiovascular function, we tested the ability of centrally administered nesfatin-1 to affect ...