The pseudotrisaccharide allosamidin is a potent family 18 chitinase inhibitor with demonstrated biological activity against insects, fungi, and the Plasmodium falciparum life cycle. The synthesis and biological properties of several derivatives have been reported. The structural interactions of allosamidin with several family 18 chitinases have been determined by x-ray crystallography previousl...

In this paper, we describe the structure of chitinase B from Serratia marcescens, which consists of a catalytic domain with a TIM-barrel fold and a 49-residue C-terminal chitin-binding domain. This chitinase is the first structure of a bacterial exochitinase, and it represents one of only a few examples of a glycosyl hydrolase structure having interacting catalytic and substrate-binding domains...

In a prospective, open-label study, 25 patients with mild-to-moderate type 1 Gaucher's disease (GD1) were treated with miglustat (Zavesca), an oral glucosylceramide synthase inhibitor, over 12 months. Of the 25 patients, 10 were therapy-naïve and 15 had previously received enzyme replacement therapy (ERT). Clinical status, blood parameters, biomarkers, and organomegaly were assessed at baseline...

Sarcoidosis is characterized by granulomatous inflammation developing in the affected organs. The ethiopathogenesis of the disease is still unknown. The lungs are most commonly affected, and uncontrolled, long-lasting inflammation can result in pulmonary fibrosis. Many different mediators, such as cytokines, chemokines, and other proteins with various functions that participate in its complex p...

Chitinolytic activities were identified in the Protozoa Trichomonas vaginalis. Overall chitinase activity assessed using chitine-azure as substrate was 10.93 ± 1.21 nmoles/min/mg prot. End nonreducing chitobiosidase (exochitinase) and chitotriosidase (endochitinase) activities were shown using p-nitrophenyl-substrates and had specific activities of 4 .55 ± 0.53 and 0.47 ± 0.06 nmol/min/mg prot,...