Peptides can serve as versatile cancer-targeting ligands and have been used for clinically relevant applications such as cancer imaging and therapy. A current and long-standing focus within peptide research is the creation of structurally constrained peptides generated through cyclization. Cyclization is envisioned to enhance the selective binding, uptake, potency and stability of linear precur...

Abstract The elucidation of the process by which cationic peptides condense plasmid DNA (pDNA) is important for unraveling mechanism peptide/pDNA complex formation, plays a vital role in gene delivery genetic transformation living cells. We performed atomic MD simulations complexation pDNA presence two peptides, KH9 (with an alternating sequence lysine and histidine) Cytcox (functioning as mito...

In the design of nanoparticles that can target disease tissue in vivo, parameters such as targeting ligand density, type of target receptor, and nanoparticle shape can play an important role in determining the extent of accumulation. Herein, a systematic study of these parameters for the targeting of mouse xenograft tumors is performed using superparamagnetic iron oxide as a model nanoparticle ...

Human cancer cells overexpress many peptide receptors as molecular targets. Radiolabeled peptides that bind with high affinity and specificity to the receptors on tumor cells hold great potential for both diagnostic imaging and targeted radionuclide therapy. The advantage of solid-phase peptide synthesis, the availability of different chelating agents and prosthetic groups and bioconjugation te...

Most plastid proteins are encoded by the nuclear genome, and consequently, need to be transported into plastids across multiple envelope membranes. In diverse organisms possessing secondary plastids, nuclear-encoded plastid precursor proteins (preproteins) commonly have an N-terminal extension that consists of an endoplasmic reticulum (ER)-targeting signal peptide and a transit peptide-like seq...

The heart excitor (HE) motor neuron in the leech Hirudo releases acetylcholine (ACh) and a peptide, FMRFamide, to regulate the contractile activity of the heart tube and associated side vessels. Consistent with Dale's principle, it was assumed that both neurotransmitters were localized to all presynaptic varicosities. However, we found discrete peptide-positive and peptide-negative varicosities...

Signal sequences are the addresses of proteins destined for secretion. In eukaryotic cells, they mediate targeting to the endoplasmic reticulum membrane and insertion into the translocon. Thereafter, signal sequences are cleaved from the pre-protein and liberated into the endoplasmic reticulum membrane. We have recently reported that some liberated signal peptides are further processed by the i...

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a form of dementia and the most common progressive neurodegenerative disease (ND). The targeting of amyloid-beta (Aβ) aggregation is one of the most widely used strategies to manage AD, and efforts are being made globally to develop peptide-based compounds for the early diagnosis and treatment of AD. Here, we briefly discuss the use of peptide-based compounds for the...