Anti-CD3 immunotoxins exhibit considerable promise for the induction of transplantation tolerance in pre-clinical large animal models. Recently an anti-human anti-CD3epsilon single-chain immunotoxin based on truncated diphtheria toxin has been described that can be expressed in CHO cells that have been mutated to diphtheria toxin resistance. After the two toxin glycosylation sites were removed,...

Inhibition by polyvalent cations is a defining characteristic of voltage-gated proton channels. The mechanism of this inhibition was studied in rat alveolar epithelial cells using tight-seal voltage clamp techniques. Metal concentrations were corrected for measured binding to buffers. Externally applied ZnCl 2 reduced the H 1 current, shifted the voltage-activation curve toward positive potenti...

AB STRACT The effects of external Zn+2 and other divalent cations on K channels in squid giant axons were studied. At low concentration (2 mM) Zn+2 slows opening kinetics without affecting closing kinetics . Higher concentrations (5-40 mM) progressively slow opening and speed channel closing to a lesser degree. In terms of "shifts," opening kinetics are strongly shifted to the right on the volt...

Because of their exquisite specificity for their cognate antigens, monoclonal antibodies have long been envisioned as potential clinical reagents for diagnosis of cancer and other diseases. Numerous radiolabeled monoclonal antibodies against tumor-associated antigens have been evaluated in diagnostic clinical trials (1). The outcome of these trials highlights the limitations of using IgGs in ra...

RNase H1 from extreme halophilic archaeon Halobacterium sp. NRC-1 (Halo-RNH1) consists of an N-terminal domain with unknown function and a C-terminal RNase H domain. It is characterized by the high content of acidic residues on the protein surface. The far- and near-UV CD spectra of Halo-RNH1 suggested that Halo-RNH1 assumes a partially folded structure in the absence of salt and divalent metal...

Platelets contain a pool of endogenous adhesive proteins that can be released and may bind to surface membrane receptors under appropriate conditions. Because the binding of exogenous fibrinogen to platelets was shown previously to be accompanied by a time-dependent decrease in fibrinogen accessibility to antibody and enzymes, studies were performed to evaluate changes in the expression of endo...

Human monocyte-derived macrophages (MDM) mediate efficient an tibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC) against a variety of human tumor cell types in the presence of an anti-tumor monoclonal antibody. We have recently shown that the mechanism of this ADCC in our in vitro system involves phagocytosis of intact tumor cells. Some forms of macrophage ADCC have been reported to be inhibited by ...

The problem of DNA- DNA interaction mediated by divalent counterions is studied using a generalized grand-canonical Monte-Carlo simulation for a system of two salts. The effect of the divalent counterion size on the condensation behavior of the DNA bundle is investigated. Experimentally, it is known that multivalent counterions have strong effect on the DNA condensation phenomenon. While tri- a...

Alginate-metal complexes were prepared with divalent (Ca, Ba, Zn) and trivalent metals (Fe, Al) via congealing method in form of beads. Alginate mixed metals (Ca & Fe) complexes were also prepared by simultaneous and consecutive congealing. The studied beads were blank beads and racemic ketoprofen (KTP) loaded beads. Metal content was determined by atomic absorption spectroscopy and was 1.8% to...

Phosphatidate phosphohydrolase (PAP) from cytosolic fraction of rat liver was purified to homogeneity having specific activity of 5.14 U/mg protein. An activity staining procedure was developed to determine molecular weight of the enzyme on polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis using Ferguson plot. Molecular Weight (M.W.) of the active PAP was 298 KDa. SDS-PAGE analysis showed a M.W. of 47 KDa for...