BACKGROUND The infectious and diagnostic form of Entamoeba histolytica (Eh), cause of amebic dysentery and liver abscess, is the quadranucleate cyst. The cyst wall of Entamoeba invadens (Ei), a model for Eh, is composed of chitin fibrils and three sets of chitin-binding lectins that cross-link chitin fibrils (multivalent Jacob lectins), self-aggregate (Jessie lectins), and remodel chitin (chiti...

We have reported that some lectins act as agonists of toll-like receptors (TLRs) and have immunomodulatory properties. The plant lectin ArtinM, for example, interacts with N-glycans of TLR2, whereas other lectins of microbial origin interact with TLR2 and TLR4. Expression of the receptors on the surface of antigen-presenting cells exposes N-glycans that may be targeted by lectins of different s...

Two lectins were isolated from the inner bark of Robinia pseudoacacia (black locust). The first (and major) lectin (called RPbAI) is composed of five isolectins that originate from the association of 31.5- and 29-kD polypeptides into tetramers. In contrast, the second (minor) lectin (called RPbAII) is a hometetramer composed of 26-kD subunits. The cDNA clones encoding the polypeptides of RPbAI ...

The structural ground underlying the pH-dependency of the dimer-tetramer transition of Diocleinae lectins was investigated by equilibrium sedimentation and X-ray crystal structure determination of wild-type and site-directed mutants of recombinant lectins. Synthetic genes coding for the full-length alpha-chains of the seed lectins of Dioclea guianensis (termed r-alphaDguia) and Dioclea grandifl...

AIMS To investigate the reaction of 118 blood culture isolates of coagulase negative staphylococci with a panel of seven lectins. METHODS The interactions between the bacterial suspensions and lectins from Arachnis hypogaea (peanut agglutinin), Bauhina purpurea, Solanum tuberosum (potato starch), Triticum vulgaris (wheat germ agglutinin), Wisteria floribunda, Concanavalin ensiformis and Limul...

The arsenal of drugs available to treat infections caused by eukaryotic and prokaryotic microbes has been declining exponentially due to antimicrobial resistance phenomenon, leading to an urgent need to develop new therapeutic strategies. Host-directed immunotherapy has been reported as an attractive option to treat microbial infections. It consists in the improvement of host defenses by increa...

Purified 125I-labeled lectins from Datura stramonium, Evonymus europaea, and Griffonia simplicifolia (I-B4 isolectin) were used to analyze changes in the expression of carbohydrates on the surface of resident (PC) and thioglycollate-stimulated murine (C57B/6J) peritoneal exudate cells (PEC). The lectins from D. stramonium, E. europaea, and G. simplicifolia I-B4 bind specifically to PEC with rel...

Multivalent ligands with a regular arrangement of carbohydrates, such as natural glycoproteins, glycopeptides, and branched oligosaccharides, play an important role in vivo molecular recognition elements for lectins. In recent years, attempts have been actively made to develop functional glyco-materials, cell culture substrates virus adsorbents, by artificially imitating reproducing the ability...

Many lectins require a Ca2+ ion as structure directing co-factor to function carbohydrate binders. Such are implicated in various important biological processes such inflammation and infection, yet simple strategy mimic their is lacking. Herein, very dipyridyl ligand (6) reported that can organize around Pd2+ form the ring-like complexes [PdCl26] [Pd62]2+. In CD2Cl2 with 5 % dmso-d6, 6 does not...

The lectin binding characteristics of mouse placental cells were examined. Wax embedded tissue sections of placentae from d 14 pregnant mice were stained with 26 lectins, with a wide range of sugar specificities. Cell cultures prepared from d 14 mouse placentae and cultured for 24 h were stained with 7 of the lectins to determine if they could be used as markers for the different trophoblast ce...