促红细胞生成素B螺旋表面肽的代谢稳定性结构修饰：设计、合成及其提高的肾保护作用

肾脏缺血缺氧以及再灌注过程都将导致肾小管上皮细胞凋亡,使肾功能严重受损.肾脏的缺血再灌注损伤是移植肾功能延迟恢复的主要原因并能诱导急慢性排斥,影响肾存活率.近年来发现,衍生于促红细胞生成素（EPO）的B螺旋亚基亲水表面序列的肽链（HBSP）,对肾脏缺血再灌注损伤具有显著的保护作用,但其在体内极短的半衰期（约2min）极大地限制了它的临床应用.因此,本研究采用构象约束、全D-构型氨基酸替换和N-端封闭策略,设计了3种类型的EPOB螺旋表面肽衍生物,旨在提高其代谢稳定性环肽的设计采用了对氧化还原稳定的硫醚键和相对刚性的亚砜键两种环合方式.在多肽的合成上,采用微波辅助多肽自动合成和手工合成两种模式有机结合;优化了硫醚环合工艺,应用微波加热进行硫醚环肽的合成,大大提高了产率和效率;利用圆二色（CD）谱确定了亚砜环肽的相对构型.活性实验表明,相对于线性母肽HBSP,本文设计合成的代谢稳定衍生肽对大/小鼠肾脏缺血再灌注损伤均有显著提高的保护作用,且硫醚和R-构型亚砜环肽的肾脏保护活性强于S-构型亚砜环肽.而且,环化确实提高了功能肽的血浆稳定性.因此,本文合成的硫醚环肽一周一次注射剂量等效于线性肽HBSP一日三次剂量对小鼠肾损伤的保护作用.     

血管紧张素转化酶活性抑制剂──丝素肽的分离、纯化和结构鉴定

 可溶性丝素粉末经碱性蛋白酶Alcalase水解后 ,其酶解产物对血管紧张素转化酶 (ACE)的活性有很强的抑制作用。采用凝胶过滤色谱SephadexG 15和反相高效液相色谱 (RP HPLC)对水解度为 2 0 %的酶解产物进行分离纯化 ,利用质谱鉴定其中一种ACE抑制剂是肽 ,其结构为Gly Tyr。     

Treatment of Human Glioblastoma U251 Cells with Sulforaphane and a Peptide Nucleic Acid (PNA) Targeting miR-15b-5p: Synergistic Effects on Induction of Apoptosis

Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is a lethal malignant tumor accounting for 42% of the tumors of the central nervous system, the median survival being 15 months. At present, no curative treatment is available for GBM and new drugs and therapeutic protocols are urgently needed. In this context, combined therapy appears to be a very interesting approach. The isothiocyanate sulforaphane (SFN) has been previously shown to induce apoptosis and inhibit the growth and invasion of GBM cells. On the other hand, the microRNA miR-15b is involved in invasiveness and proliferation in GBM and its inhibition is associated with the induction of apoptosis. On the basis of these observations, the objective of the present study was to determine whether a combined treatment using SFN and a peptide nucleic acid interfering with miR-15b-5p (PNA-a15b) might be proposed for increasing the pro-apoptotic effects of the single agents. To verify this hypothesis, we have treated GMB U251 cells with SFN alone, PNA-a15b alone or their combination. The cell viability, apoptosis and combination index were, respectively, analyzed by calcein staining, annexin-V and caspase-3/7 assays, and RT-qPCR for genes involved in apoptosis. The efficacy of the PNA-a15b determined the miR-15b-5p content analyzed by RT-qPCR. The results obtained indicate that SFN and PNA-a15b synergistically act in inducing the apoptosis of U251 cells. Therefore, the PNA-a15b might be proposed in a “combo-therapy” associated with SFN. Overall, this study suggests the feasibility of using combined treatments based on PNAs targeting miRNA involved in GBM and nutraceuticals able to stimulate apoptosis.     

Profiling of generic anti-phosphopeptide antibodies and kinases with peptide microarrays using radioactive and fluorescence-based assays

Kinases represent one of the largest enzyme families and key regulatory proteins in the cell. Only a small subset of these enzymes has been characterised so far. We have prepared different types of phosphopeptide and peptide microarrays displaying peptides deduced from annotated human phosphorylation sites and cytoplasmic domains of all annotated human membrane proteins. This approach was enabled by fully-automated high throughput micro-scale synthesis of peptides by the SPOT technology combined with chemo-selective immobilisation on modified glass slides. The phosphopeptide microarrays displaying 2923 peptides in total have been used for the characterisation of commercially available generic anti-phosphopeptide antibodies. This enabled us to detect Abl kinase activity on a microarray with anti-phosphotyrosine antibodies yielding results comparable to those obtained from a radioactive assay. More than 13 000 peptides deposited on six glass slides were used to profile casein kinase 2 (CK2) using a radioactive assay, since no generic antibody for the reliable detection of serine or threonine phosphorylation could be identified. All previously identified substrates were detected in the microarray experiment. In order to confirm whether substrates on the microarray are substrates in solution phase assays, more than 700 peptides were synthesised and tested with CK2 in a solution phase assay. All substrates identified in the solution phase assay were also detected on the microarray.     

Electrochemical Signal Enhancer Fabricated Using Lysine‐rich Peptide for Ultrasensitive Electrochemical DNA Biosensor Analysis

Here we present a novel design of electrochemical signal enhancer to increase the detection sensitivity of electrochemical DNA biosensors. The key element of this enhancer is a lysine‐rich peptide (LRP). Its C‐terminal is conjugated with a planer molecule, being able to intercalate into the base pairs of probe‐target duplexes. The lysine residues of LRP are covalently linked with electrochemical signal indicators, acting as an assembly of electrochemical signal indicators. Experimental results proved the feasibility of the novel design. We have examined the effects of the numbers of lysine residues and the hybridization conditions on the detection sensitivity. The optimization procedures have led to significant sensitivity enhancement, and the LOD (limit of detection) has been determined to be 1.4 amol. This enhancer demonstrates advantages of easy operation, simple instrumentation, and high exemption from environmental influence.     

Biological applications of amide and amino acid containing synthetic macrocycles

ABSTRACT

Amino acid derived macrocycles with elaborate well-defined stereochemistry are a unique class of compounds that have been isolated from natural sources. Macrocycles like cyclosporine, octreotide, and valinomycin have been used in multiple applications, like drugs or ion sensors. Chemists have long been fascinated by the unique molecular recognition capabilities of these macrocycles and tried to design synthetic analogs with similar functions. This article is focused on reviewing current research on amide and amino acid containing macrocycles that have been developed in research laboratories for biological recognition, specifically for anion sensing, ion transport, carbohydrate sensing, and peptide sensing.     

基于细胞穿膜肽的药物递送研究进展

从细胞穿膜肽(CPP)的分类、内化机制、与货物的连接和应用四个方面讲述目前人们在对细胞穿膜肽的研究上已经取得的成果。细胞穿膜肽是一种能穿过细胞膜的短肽,可分为阳离子型肽、两亲性肽和疏水性肽。细胞穿膜肽的内化机制主要有内吞作用、直接渗透、依赖于糖蛋白的内化机制和依赖于浓度的内化机制等。近年来,人们合成了多种有实际应用价值的CPP-货物复合物,在细胞穿膜肽的应用上,取得了很多进展和突破。科学家们主要研究将细胞穿膜肽应用于药物递送和细胞成像。     

Unconventional Secondary Structure Mimics: Ladder-Rungs

Secondary structures tend to be recognizable because they have repeating structural motifs, but mimicry of these does not have to follow such well-defined patterns. Bioinformatics studies to match side-chain orientations of a novel hydantoin triazole chemotype ( 1 ) to protein-protein interfaces revealed it tends to align well across parallel and antiparallel sheets, like rungs on a ladder. One set of these overlays was observed for the protein-protein interaction uPA⋅uPAR. Consequently, chemotype 1 was made with appropriate side-chains to mimic uPA at this interface. Biophysical assays indicate these compounds did in fact bind uPAR, and elicit cellular responses that affected invasion, migration, and wound healing.     

Measurement of Residual Dipolar Couplings of Organic Molecules in Multiple Solvent Systems Using a Liquid-Crystalline-Based Medium

Residual dipolar coupling (RDC), a robust anisotropic NMR parameter for structural elucidation of organic molecules, is only accessible in an anisotropic environment. Herein, we introduce a novel alignment medium based on the molecular self-assembly of oligopeptide amphiphile (OPA). This medium is compatible with different intermediate and polar solvent systems, such as CD₃OD, [D₆]DMSO, and D₂O. The preparation of the OPA-based medium is simple and rapid, while only very weak background signals were observed from OPAs. Furthermore, we show that the purity of OPA has only a minor influence on the quality of the RDC data. These advantages allow RDC measurements of organic molecules with different polarities and solubilities with high efficiency and accuracy.