The denaturation of some globular proteins by Gu-HCl shows a non-simultaneous change of different optical properties: the CD spectrum in near UV (aromatic) region changes at smaller concentrations of Gu-HCl than the CD spectrum in far UV (peptide) region [l--4]. This suggests the existence of stable, partly denatured (intermediate) forms of these proteins with a more or less symmetrical environ...

A two-step-cascade membrane separation by ultrafiltration was performed on caprine milk prepared under different temperature conditions to eliminate beta-lactoglobulin (β-Lg) from the whey fraction. Effects of temperature treatment and membrane pore size on the elimination of β-Lg and retention of alpha-lactalbumin (α-La) were examined to determine the optimum permeate fraction for production o...

Protein aggregation and precipitation is associated with many debilitating diseases including Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and light-chain amyloidosis. β-Casein, a member of the casein family, has been demonstrated to exhibit chaperone-like activity to protect protein form aggregation. Hofmeister salts (lyotropice series) are a class of ions which have an effect on the solubility and also the stab...

PURPOSE alpha-Crystallin belongs to a class of small heat shock proteins and is shown to prevent aggregation of several proteins. We have shown that the temperature-induced structural perturbation leads to several fold enhanced activity. The purpose of this study was to investigate the availability and specificity of the hydrophobic sites that might become available at elevated temperatures. Sp...

The breast-specific antigen A-lactalbumin is expressed in >60% of breast cancer tissues. To evaluate the effect of gene therapy for breast cancer by controlling adenovirus replication with human A-lactalbumin promoter, we investigated the activity of a 762-bp human A-lactalbumin promoter. A-Lactalbumin promoter showed significantly higher activity in MDA-MB-435S and T47D breast cancer cells tha...

To determine whether lactalbumin production by normal and neoplastic human mammary tissue is under the same control, the effect of prolactin treatment was studied in organ culture. Of 9 premenopausal normal breast samples, 6 produced lactalbumin in culture, and all 6 responded to prolactin treatment over 4 days. One biopsy of pregnant breast tested also responded to prolactin treatment, produci...