We have previously described the oxidative inactivation of several key metabolic enzymes by a variety of mixed function oxidation systems. Because many of the enzymes which are inactivated have been shown by others to accumulate as inactive or less active forms during cellular aging, we have examined the levels of oxidatively modified proteins in two model systems used for studies on aging. The...

Proteins play a crucial role in almost all biological processes. Dietary proteins are generally considered as energy yielding nutrients and as a source of amino acids for various purposes. In addition, they may have a role in food-related reward signals. The purpose of this review was to give an overview of the role of dietary proteins in food-related reward and possible mechanisms behind such ...

Amyloidpeptide (A ) is generated by -secretase, a membrane protein complex with an unusual aspartyl protease activity consisting of the four components presenilin, nicastrin, APH-1 and PEN-2. Presenilin is considered the catalytic subunit of this complex since it represents the prototype of the new family of intramembrane-cleaving GxGD-type aspartyl proteases. Recently, five novel members of th...

Type 1 allergies are recognized as an important disease affecting around 25% of the population of industrialized countries of the Northern hemisphere. Allergic patients produce specific IgE antibodies after frequent exposure to either inhaled or nutritive allergens. Of the plant allergens listed in the Official Allergen Database of the International Union of Immunological Societies, approx. 25%...

Autophagy and autophagy-related processes are fundamentally important in human health and disease. These processes are viewed primarily as cellular degradative pathways that recycle macromolecules and dysfunctional or redundant organelles into amino acids, sugars and lipids, especially during starvation. However, the ubiquitin-like autophagy proteins and other components of the autophagic machi...

The Wnt (wingless-type) signaling pathway plays an important role in embryonic development, tissue homeostasis, and tumor progression becaluse of its effect on cell proliferation, migration, and differentiation. Secreted frizzled-related proteins (SFRPs) are extracellular inhibitors of Wnt signaling that act by binding directly to Wnt ligands or to Frizzled receptors. In recent years, aberrant ...

Profile analysis is a method for detecting distantly related proteins by sequence comparison. The basis for comparison is not only the customary Dayhoff mutational-distance matrix but also the results of structural studies and information implicit in the alignments of the sequences of families of similar proteins. This information is expressed in a position-specific scoring table (profile), whi...

Milk is an important component of a balanced diet and contains numerous valuable constituents. Considerable acclaimed health benefits of milk are related to its proteins, not only for their nutritive value but also for their biological properties. Scientific evidence suggests that anticarcinogenic activities, antihypertensive properties, immune system modulation, and other metabolic features of...