We tested 154 peptides spanning the entire length of core histones of nucleosomes for the ability to stimulate an anti-DNA autoantibody-inducing T helper (Th) clone, as well as CD4(+) T-cell lines and T cells, in fresh PBMCs from 23 patients with lupus erythematosus. In contrast to normal T cells, lupus T cells responded strongly to certain histone peptides, irrespective of the patient's diseas...

Histamine H4 receptor has been confirmed to play a role in evoking peripheral pruritus. However, the ionic and intracellular signaling mechanism of activation of H4 receptor on the dorsal root ganglion (DRG) neurons is still unknown. By using cell culture and calcium imaging, we studied the underlying mechanism of activation of H4 receptor on the DRG neuron. Immepip dihydrobromide (immepip)-a h...

Nucleosome and chromatin structure/function relationships of histone acetylations are not understood. To address these questions we have developed chromatographic procedures that separate subtypes of H3 and the acetylated states of histone H3 and H4 in exceptionally pure forms. The sites of acetylation of the intermediately acetylated states of H3 have been determined and show a specific patter...

Levels of histone acetylation and phosphorylation have been contrasted in two developmental states of Drosophila melanogaster. The 0-2 h nuclei of the syncitial blastula are characterized by rapid mitoses and DNA replication, but there is very little transcription. In the 18 h embryo there is considerable transcription and the mitotic rate is much slower. It has been found that (1) histone H1 f...

Histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibition is a novel entity in medical oncology, and several HDAC inhibitors are in clinical trials. One of them is the hydroxamic acid belinostat (PXD101) that has demonstrated therapeutic efficacy for several clinical indications. Acetylation of histones is a key event after treatment with HDAC inhibitors, and could thus be used as a marker for monitoring cellular ...

Heterologous probes for yeast H4 and H3 histone genes have been used to study the corresponding histone mRNAs in growing and starved Tetrahymena. Histone mRNAs in both physiological states are polyadenylated. Two types of H4 protein and two types of H3 protein have previously identified in Tetrahymena. Two size classes of H4 messages and three classes of H3 messages have been detected by northe...

BACKGROUND In eukaryotic cells, newly synthesized histone H4 is acetylated at lysines 5 and 12, a transient modification erased by deacetylases shortly after deposition of histones into chromosomes. Genetic studies in Saccharomyces cerevisiae revealed that acetylation of newly synthesized histones H3 and H4 is likely to be important for maintaining cell viability; the precise biochemical functi...

The condensation of nucleosome arrays into higher-order secondary and tertiary chromatin structures likely involves long-range internucleosomal interactions mediated by the core histone tail domains. We have characterized interarray interactions mediated by the H4 tail domain, known to play a predominant role in the formation of such structures. We find that the N-terminal end of the H4 tail me...

Histone chaperones are proteins that interact with histones to regulate the thermodynamic process of nucleosome assembly. sNASP and ASF1 are conserved histone chaperones that interact with histones H3 and H4 and are found in a multi-chaperoning complex in vivo Previously we identified a short peptide motif within H3 that binds to the TPR domain of sNASP with nanomolar affinity. Interestingly, t...

The aim of this study is to identify and validate protein change in the serum from PD patients. We used serum samples from 21 PD patients and 20 age-matched normal people as control to conduct a comparative proteomic study. We performed 2-DE and analyzed the differentially expressed protein spots by LC-MS/MS. In PD group 13 spots were shown to be differentially expressed compared to control gro...