BACKGROUND Recombinant antibodies can be produced in different formats and different expression systems. Single chain variable fragments (scFvs) represent an attractive alternative to full-length antibodies and they can be easily produced in bacteria or yeast. However, the scFvs exhibit monovalent antigen-binding properties and short serum half-lives. The stability and avidity of the scFvs can ...

BACKGROUND For their application in the area of diagnosis and therapy, single-domain antibodies (sdAbs) offer multiple advantages over conventional antibodies and fragments thereof in terms of size, stability, solubility, immunogenicity, production costs as well as tumor uptake and blood clearance. Thus, sdAbs have been identified as valuable next-generation targeting moieties for molecular ima...

Bullous pemphigoid (BP) and pemphigoid gestationis (PG) are acquired autoimmune subepidermal blistering diseases characterized by autoantibodies against the hemidesmosomal proteins BP180/type XVII collagen and BP230. In the vast majority of BP and PG patients, these autoantibodies bind to epitopes clustered within the 16th non-collagenous domain of BP180. An ELISA system for the detection of th...

Citrate synthase (CS) plays a central metabolic role in aerobes and many other organisms. The CS reaction comprises two half-reactions: a Claisen aldol condensation of acetyl-CoA (AcCoA) and oxaloacetate (OAA) that forms citryl-CoA (CitCoA), and CitCoA hydrolysis. Protein conformational changes that `close' the active site play an important role in the assembly of a catalytically competent cond...

Knowledge of the response of cytochrome P450 1B1 (CYP1B1) to exposure to 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD) in both humans and rodents is limited. To improve the analysis of CYP1 proteins, specific CYP1B1 and CYP1A1 polypeptides were expressed as hexahistidine-tagged fusion proteins in Escherichia coli, purified to homogeneity and used to produce polyclonal antibodies in rabbits. Immuno...

Tandem affinity strategies reach exceptional protein purification grades and have considerably improved the outcome of mass spectrometry-based proteomic experiments. However, current tandem affinity tags are incompatible with two-step purification under fully denaturing conditions. Such stringent purification conditions are desirable for mass spectrometric analyses of protein modifications as t...

dionysius is one of the most important personages in christian mystic that some of his ideas were up to now popular ideas in christian theosophy, theology and philosophy. christian doctrine and neo-platonic ideas are viewed as two main sources for his opinions; although he sometimes leans to one and the rest to another. for example, in discussion about creation, angelology and trinity he tended...

In my 15th and final year as JRRE editor, I identify methodological and substantive shortcomings in the rural education research literature and, in turn, suggest strategies for improvement. I structure my observations around the following considerations: describing the rural context of research, making the rural argument, framing the research question, drawing on other disciplines, synthesizing...

the unique character of imam ali bin abi talib (a.s.) has occupied a high ranking position in shi'ite's literature since centuries. apart from the interest of arab shi'ite poets, we also find non-arabs who paid attention to imam ali's attributes and virtues, including mihiar al-dailami the persian who lived in buwaihid era.this study uses content analysis method aimed at stu...

the verse on “the world of primal covenant (‘alam al-zarr)” is among difficult quranic verses whose difficulty can be discovered by consideration of different opinions, which are sometimes opposite to one another, presented by quranic commentators. having accepted the existence of “the world of primal covenant,” mulla sadra has interpreted and expounded that world in accordance with his philoso...