one of the emerging therapeutic strategies for targeted treatment of most cancers is the use of immunotoxins which are fusion proteins consisted of a targeting and a toxic moieties. we previously showed that the recombinant a254-gmcsf fusion protein selectively kills acute myeloblastic leukemia cells which harbor a large number of granulocyte-macrophage colony stimulating factor (gmcsf) recepto...

UDP-GlcNAc:Galbeta1-3GalNAc-R (GlcNAc to GalNAc) beta-1, 6-N-acetylglucosaminyltransferase (C2GnT) catalyses the formation of O-glycan core 2. Purification and characterization of C2GnT from natural sources has been hampered by the instability of this enzyme. We have been able to prepare a stable partly purified recombinant human C2GnT by expression of a truncated form of the enzyme in the bacu...

The Drosophila proteins, Trp and Trpl, are suggested to be cation channels responsible for depolarization of the receptor potential associated with stimulation of insect photoreceptor cells by light. Consistent with this hypothesis, we recently showed that recombinant Trpl forms Ca(2+)- and Ba(2+)-permeable non-selective cation channels when expressed in Sf9 cells using the baculovirus expressi...

Ichnoviruses (IVs) occur in obligate symbiotic associations with endoparasitic ichneumonid wasps. IVs are injected with eggs during parasitization, where viral infection and gene expression alter host physiology to ensure endoparasitoid survival. The seven Campoletis sonorensis IV (CsIV) vankyrin genes encode proteins that possess ankyrin repeat domains resembling the inhibitory domains of NF-k...

Zip14 is a member of the SLC39A zinc transporter family, which is involved in zinc uptake by cells. Up-regulation of Zip14 by IL-6 appears to contribute to the hepatic zinc accumulation and hypozincemia of inflammation. At least three members of the SLC39A family transport other trace elements, such as iron and manganese, in addition to zinc. We analyzed the capability of Zip14 to mediate non-t...

Background and Aims: Each year, the influenza virus causes moderate to severe infections with a high prevalence throughout the world. Accordingly, an influenza vaccine that ensures protection with only a single dose would be a much more cost effective approach to influenza prophylaxis. Generation of Influenza non-replicating virus-like particles (VLP) in baculoviral expression system is an attr...