The study aimed at evaluating the effects of calcitriol and of its analogues on the proliferation of TT and rMTC cells (human and rat line tumour cells originating from thyroid medullary carcinoma) and at examining the effects of the substances on the secretion of the principal hormones of the cells, calcitonin (CT) and calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP). Cells of thyroid medullary carcinom...

Ribosomally synthesized and post-translationally modified peptides are a rapidly expanding class of natural products. They are typically biosynthesized by modification of a C-terminal segment of the precursor peptide (the core peptide). The precursor peptide also contains an N-terminal leader peptide that is required to guide the biosynthetic enzymes. For bioengineering purposes, the leader pep...

Lipoxin (LX) A(4) and aspirin-triggered LX (ATL) are endogenous lipids that regulate leukocyte trafficking via specific LXA(4) receptors (ALXRs) and mediate antiinflammation and resolution. ATL analogues dramatically inhibited human neutrophil (polymorphonuclear leukocyte [PMN]) responses evoked by a potent necrotactic peptide derived from mitochondria as well as a rogue synthetic chemotactic p...

Membrane model systems consisting of phosphatidylcholines and hydrophobic alpha-helical peptides with tryptophan flanking residues, a characteristic motif for transmembrane protein segments, were used to investigate the contribution of tryptophans to peptide-lipid interactions. Peptides of different lengths and with the flanking tryptophans at different positions in the sequence were incorporat...

CTL specific for the influenza A virus matrix peptide 57-68 and restricted by HLA-A2 were studied. Their ability to recognize a set of analogue peptides, each of which differed from the natural peptide by a single amino acid, was analyzed. This revealed a core of five amino acids, 61-65, where one or more changes completely abrogated recognition. The glycine at position 61 was the only residue ...

The cyclotide family of plant proteins is of interest because of their unique topology, which combines a head-to-tail cyclic backbone with an embedded cystine knot, and because their remarkable chemical and biological properties make them ideal candidates as grafting templates for biologically active peptide epitopes. The present study describes the first steps towards exploiting the cyclotide ...

We describe mechanistic investigations of a catalyst (1) that leads to selective epoxidation of farnesol at the 6,7-position, remote from the hydroxyl directing group. The experimental lineage of peptide 1 and a number of resin-bound peptide analogues were examined to reveal the importance of four N-terminal residues. We examined the selectivity of truncated analogues to find that a trimer is s...