Article
Biophysics
Supriyo Bhattacharya, Mingfeng Zhang, Weidong Hu, Tong Qi, Nora Heisterkamp
Summary: Intrinsically disordered regions (IDRs) are common and important functional domains in proteins, but hard to target for drug development. This study successfully predicted the binding interface of Galectin-3's disordered N-terminal domain (NTD) with the structured C-terminal domain (CTD) and designed inhibitory peptides targeting this interface using a combination of nuclear magnetic resonance data and accelerated molecular dynamics simulations.
BIOPHYSICAL JOURNAL
(2022)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Monika Mullerova, Michaela Hovorkova, Tana Zavodna, Lucie Cervenkova Stastna, Alena Krupkova, Vojtech Hamala, Katerina Novakova, Jan Topinka, Pavla Bojarova, Tomas Strasak
Summary: Galectins and their carbohydrate ligands play a vital role in regulating various biological processes. Carbosilane dendrimers show promise as a nanoscaffold for presenting multivalent carbohydrate ligands to target galectin receptors. This study presents a synthetic method for lactose-functionalized carbosilane glycodendrimers and demonstrates their high affinity to galectin-9. Multivalent presentation of the ligand significantly enhances its inhibitory effect, as shown by the 1400-fold higher potency of the third-generation dendritic ligand compared to monovalent lactose. The increased affinity is attributed to the formation of stable galectin/lactose-functionalized carbosilane glycodendrimer aggregates.
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Filip Hasecke, Chamani Niyangoda, Gustavo Borjas, Jianjun Pan, Garrett Matthews, Martin Muschol, Wolfgang Hoyer
Summary: The study found that in the assembly of A beta and lysozyme, protofibrils bind to the lateral surfaces of amyloid fibrils, inhibiting the self-proliferation of amyloid fibrils. This suggests that metastable oligomers counteract the replacement by amyloid fibrils through competing for monomers and blocking secondary nucleation sites.
ANGEWANDTE CHEMIE-INTERNATIONAL EDITION
(2021)
Review
Pharmacology & Pharmacy
Selena Bouffette, Iuliana Botez, Frederic De Ceuninck
Summary: This article reviews the key role of Galectin-3 (Gal-3) in cardiac, hepatic, renal, and pulmonary fibrosis and inflammation, respiratory infections caused by COVID-19, and neuroinflammatory disorders. The recent strategic breakthroughs have led to the identification of new-generation Gal-3 inhibitors with improved potency, selectivity, and bioavailability, which have shown promise as valuable tools in proof-of-concept studies in preclinical models of these diseases, particularly those in clinical stages. Critical views and suggestions to expand the therapeutic opportunities provided by this complex target are also discussed.
TRENDS IN PHARMACOLOGICAL SCIENCES
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Goutam Ghosh, Kalathil K. Kartha, Gustavo Fernandez
Summary: The study highlights the significant influence of aromatic interactions on the mechanistic pathways of peptide self-assembly. Despite the peptides having similar morphologies, the minor structural difference leads to different packing modes and self-assembly mechanisms.
CHEMICAL COMMUNICATIONS
(2021)
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Hao Kong, Bin Liu, Guozheng Yang, Yun Chen, Gang Wei
Summary: The interactions between biomolecules and material interfaces are vital for the design and synthesis of functional bionanomaterials. This study demonstrates the self-assembly behavior of the GNNQQNY peptide on mica and highly oriented pyrolytic graphite surfaces, and investigates the effects of various factors on the formation of peptide nanofibers and nanoribbons. The results suggest that adjusting the experimental parameters effectively enables the formation of peptide nanoribbons on both material interfaces.
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Amanda Pritzlaff, Guillaume Ferre, Emma Mulry, Ling Lin, Niloofar Gopal Pour, Daniel A. Savin, Michael E. Harris, Matthew T. Eddy
Summary: PEGylation is a promising method to improve protein stability, but the underlying mechanism is not well understood. This study used a structural and biophysical approach to investigate the effects of PEGylation on the carbohydrate recognition domain of human galectin-3. The results revealed the potential role of charged residues in PEG localization and provided insights for the rational design of conjugates.
ANGEWANDTE CHEMIE-INTERNATIONAL EDITION
(2022)
Article
Biophysics
Pralhad Namdev Joshi, Evgeniy Mervinetsky, Ohad Solomon, Yu-Ju Chen, Shlomo Yitzchaik, Assaf Friedler
Summary: This study presents an alternative approach for sensing kinases based on the interactions of their allosteric docking sites with specific partner proteins. The method showed high target selectivity for the ERK2 kinase and demonstrated the detection of ERK2 in its cellular concentration range.
BIOSENSORS & BIOELECTRONICS
(2022)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Yuhan Wang, Xinxin Li, Debin Zheng, Yumiao Chen, Zhenghao Zhang, Zhimou Yang
Summary: A novel strategy utilizing self-assembly between ALP and PD-L1 to selectively degrade PD-L1 in tumor cells is reported. This strategy selectively encapsulates PD-L1 in nanomaterials for further degradation, showing potential for inhibiting tumor growth in animal models.
ADVANCED FUNCTIONAL MATERIALS
(2021)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Weizhen Jia, Lingyu Kong, Hiroyasu Kidoya, Hisamichi Naito, Fumitaka Muramatsu, Yumiko Hayashi, Han-Yun Hsieh, Daishi Yamakawa, Daniel K. Hsu, Fu-Tong Liu, Nobuyuki Takakura
Summary: This study demonstrates that Gal-3 expression in long-term repopulating HSCs is induced in response to Tie2 and Mpl, and plays a crucial role in maintaining HSC quiescence through regulation of p21.
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2021)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Jinrong Ma, Bin Cai, Shuai Zhang, Tengyue Jian, James J. De Yoreo, Chun-Long Chen, Francois Baneyx
Summary: This study reports a simple and modular approach to hierarchical hybrid synthesis by synthesizing peptoid nanosheets and solid-binding protein to construct stacked multilayered materials, which is expected to be applied in bioimaging and photocatalysis fields.
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Renjie Liu, Xin Dong, Dillon T. Seroski, Bethsymarie Soto Morales, Kong M. Wong, Alicia S. Robang, Lucas Melgar, Thomas E. Angelini, Anant K. Paravastu, Carol K. Hall, Gregory A. Hudalla
Summary: This study investigates the hierarchical co-assembly of charged side-chain peptides, demonstrating how the type of charged amino acid affects the supramolecular organization.
ANGEWANDTE CHEMIE-INTERNATIONAL EDITION
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Pooja Sharma, Sangita Roy
Summary: Short bioactive peptide-based supramolecular hydrogels have potential for tissue engineering. However, replicating the complete ECM microenvironment solely using peptide-based biomaterials is challenging. Multicomponent biomaterials have gained importance for achieving the complexity and hierarchy of the native ECM.
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Salhah D. Al-Qahtani, Razan M. Snari, Abrar Bayazeed, Rua B. Alnoman, Aisha Hossan, Amerah Alsoliemy, Nashwa M. El-Metwaly
Summary: This study reports novel organogelators based on fluorescent alkoxy-substituted 1,4-diarylated 1,2,3-triazoles, and describes their synthesis, characterization, and gelation properties. The self-assembled supramolecular structures formed by these organogelators demonstrate excellent gelation properties, and compounds with longer alkoxy terminals exhibit improved gelation properties.
ARABIAN JOURNAL OF CHEMISTRY
(2022)
Review
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Stephani Stamboroski, Arundhati Joshi, Paul-Ludwig Michael Noeske, Susan Koeppen, Dorothea Brueggemann
Summary: This review summarizes the current state of research on fibrinogen fibrillogenesis in vitro, categorizing the manifold factors leading to the assembly of fibrinogen molecules into fibers into three main groups: substrate interactions, denaturing and non-denaturing buffer conditions. Based on the meta-analysis, it is concluded that the assembly of fibrinogen is driven by several mechanisms across different length scales.
MACROMOLECULAR BIOSCIENCE
(2021)
Review
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Renjie Liu, Gregory A. Hudalla
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Antonietta Restuccia, Dillon T. Seroski, Karen L. Kelley, Christopher S. O'Bryan, Justin J. Kurian, Kevin R. Knox, Shaheen A. Farhadi, Thomas E. Angelini, Gregory A. Hudalla
COMMUNICATIONS CHEMISTRY
(2019)