Ligand-binding renders the 160 kDaTrypanosoma cruzicomplement regulatory protein susceptible to proteolytic cleavage

1996 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 235-248 ◽  
Author(s):  
K Norris
Molecules ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 26 (4) ◽  
pp. 1151
Author(s):  
Chenyun Guo ◽  
Zhihua Wu ◽  
Weiliang Lin ◽  
Hao Xu ◽  
Ting Chang ◽  
...  

Suramin was initially used to treat African sleeping sickness and has been clinically tested to treat human cancers and HIV infection in the recent years. However, the therapeutic index is low with numerous clinical side-effects, attributed to its diverse interactions with multiple biological macromolecules. Here, we report a novel binding target of suramin, human Raf1 kinase inhibitory protein (hRKIP), which is an important regulatory protein involved in the Ras/Raf1/MEK/ERK (MAPK) signal pathway. Biolayer interference technology showed that suramin had an intermediate affinity for binding hRKIP with a dissociation constant of 23.8 µM. Both nuclear magnetic resonance technology and molecular docking analysis revealed that suramin bound to the conserved ligand-binding pocket of hRKIP, and that residues K113, W173, and Y181 play crucial roles in hRKIP binding suramin. Furthermore, suramin treatment at 160 µM could profoundly increase the ERK phosphorylation level by around 3 times. Our results indicate that suramin binds to hRKIP and prevents hRKIP from binding with hRaf1, thus promoting the MAPK pathway. This work is beneficial to both mechanistically understanding the side-effects of suramin and efficiently improving the clinical applications of suramin.


1999 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-54 ◽  
Author(s):  
R Sridaran ◽  
GH Philip ◽  
H Li ◽  
M Culty ◽  
Z Liu ◽  
...  

We have demonstrated that continuous administration of a gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonist (GnRH-Ag) suppresses luteal steroidogenesis in the pregnant rat. We further demonstrated that the peripheral-type benzodiazepine receptor (PBR) and the steroidogenic acute regulatory protein (StAR) play key roles in cholesterol transport leading to steroidogenesis. The purpose of this study was to understand the cellular and molecular mechanisms involved in the suppression of luteal steroidogenesis leading to a fall in serum progesterone levels in GnRH-Ag-treated rats during early pregnancy. Pregnant rats were treated individually starting on day 8 of pregnancy with 5 microgram/day GnRH-Ag using an osmotic minipump. Sham-operated control rats received no treatment. At 0, 4, 8 and 24 h after initiation of the treatment, rats were killed and corpora lutea (CL) were removed for PBR mRNA, protein and radioligand binding analyses, immunoblot 1-D gel analysis of StAR, P450 scc and 3beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase as well as 2-D gel analysis of StAR. The treatment decreased the luteal PBR mRNA expression at all time periods starting at 4 h compared with that in corresponding sham controls. GnRH-Ag also reduced, in the CL, the PBR protein/ligand binding, the StAR protein and P450 scc protein and its activity as early as 8 h after the treatment and they remained low compared with those in corresponding sham controls. The data from 2-D gel studies suggest that the majority of the decrease in StAR protein appears to be in the phosphorylated forms of StAR. Thus, we have demonstrated, for the first time, the presence of PBR and StAR in the pregnant rat CL and that the coordinated suppression of these proteins involved in the mitochondrial cholesterol transport along with P450 scc by GnRH-Ag leads to reduced ovarian steroidogenesis.


2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ling Lin ◽  
Amanda M. Pritzlaff ◽  
Haillie-Ann C. Lower ◽  
Daniel A. Savin

Galectin-3 (gal3) is a human lectin protein that is known to interact with extracellular matrix proteins by regulating functions in both healthy and cancerous cells. The goal of this project is to conjugate polymers to gal3 to better study and control its functions in vitro. We hypothesize that a covalently attached polymer will sterically modulate gal3 function. In the project, we created two protein variants with polymer-reactive handles. The first construct is similar to wild-type gal3 with a cysteine in place of the 6th serine (S6C) which was created by site-directed mutagenesis (SDM). Maleimide-terminated polyethylene oxide (PEO, 5000 g/mol) was then attached to this mutant via thiol-Michael addition at the cysteine site. Attachment of polymer to the unstructured N-terminal domain (NTD) may increase the binding of the protein by sterically pulling the NTD away from the carbohydrate recognition domain (CRD). In addition, the NTD, which is implicated in undesired self-association, was removed for the second construct. The gal3 CRD only construct is shown to have a higher solubility in solution and an increased ligand-binding affinity. Ultimately, the two unique constructs will help us understand the structural role of the NTD in gal3 ligand-binding and self-association.


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