scholarly journals Curcumin Protects Neurons from Glutamate-Induced Excitotoxicity by Membrane Anchored AKAP79-PKA Interaction Network

2015 ◽  
Vol 2015 ◽  
pp. 1-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kui Chen ◽  
Yu An ◽  
Lu Tie ◽  
Yan Pan ◽  
Xuejun Li

Now stimulation of AMPA receptor as well as its downstream pathways is considered as potential central mediators in antidepressant mechanisms. As a signal integrator which binds to AMPA receptor, A-kinase anchoring protein 79-(AKAP79-) PKA complex is regarded as a potential drug target to exert neuroprotective effects. A well-tolerated and multitarget drug curcumin has been confirmed to exert antidepressant-like effects. To explore whether AKAP79-PKA complex is involved in curcumin-mediated antiexcitotoxicity, we detected calcium signaling, subcellular location of AKAP79-PKA complex, phosphorylation of glutamate receptor, and ERK and AKT cascades. In this study, we found that curcumin protected neurons from glutamate insult by reducing Ca2+influx and blocking the translocation of AKAP79 from cytomembrane to cytoplasm. In parallel, curcumin enhanced the phosphorylation of AMPA receptor and its downstream pathways in PKA-dependent manner. If we pretreated cells with PKA anchoring inhibitor Ht31 to disassociate PKA from AKAP79, no neuroprotective effects were observed. In conclusion, our results show that AKAP79-anchored PKA facilitated the signal relay from AMPA receptor to AKT and ERK cascades, which may be crucial for curcumin-mediated antiexcitotoxicity.

2013 ◽  
Vol 19 (14) ◽  
pp. 2637-2648 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ana Serrano ◽  
Patricia Ferreira ◽  
Marta Martinez-Julvez ◽  
Milagros Medina

2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 292-301 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lalit Kumar Gautam ◽  
Prince Sharma ◽  
Neena Capalash

Bacterial infections have always been an unrestrained challenge to the medical community due to the rise of multi-drug tolerant and resistant strains. Pioneering work on Escherichia coli polyphosphate kinase (PPK) by Arthur Kornberg has generated great interest in this polyphosphate (PolyP) synthesizing enzyme. PPK has wide distribution among pathogens and is involved in promoting pathogenesis, stress management and susceptibility to antibiotics. Further, the absence of a PPK orthologue in humans makes it a potential drug target. This review covers the functional and structural aspects of polyphosphate kinases in bacterial pathogens. A description of molecules being designed against PPKs has been provided, challenges associated with PPK inhibitor design are highlighted and the strategies to enable development of efficient drug against this enzyme have also been discussed.


2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 146-155 ◽  
Author(s):  
Renu Chaudhary ◽  
Meenakshi Balhara ◽  
Deepak Kumar Jangir ◽  
Mehak Dangi ◽  
Mrridula Dangi ◽  
...  

<P>Background: Protein-Protein interaction (PPI) network analysis of virulence proteins of Aspergillus fumigatus is a prevailing strategy to understand the mechanism behind the virulence of A. fumigatus. The identification of major hub proteins and targeting the hub protein as a new antifungal drug target will help in treating the invasive aspergillosis. </P><P> Materials & Method: In the present study, the PPI network of 96 virulence (drug target) proteins of A. fumigatus were investigated which resulted in 103 nodes and 430 edges. Topological enrichment analysis of the PPI network was also carried out by using STRING database and Network analyzer a cytoscape plugin app. The key enriched KEGG pathway and protein domains were analyzed by STRING.Conclusion:Manual curation of PPI data identified three proteins (PyrABCN-43, AroM-34, and Glt1- 34) of A. fumigatus possessing the highest interacting partners. Top 10% hub proteins were also identified from the network using cytohubba on the basis of seven algorithms, i.e. betweenness, radiality, closeness, degree, bottleneck, MCC and EPC. Homology model and the active pocket of top three hub proteins were also predicted.</P>


2011 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 363-370 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lakshminarayanan Karthik ◽  
Palayam Malathy ◽  
Annie Trinitta ◽  
Krishnasamy Gunasekaran

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 417-426
Author(s):  
Vimee Raturi ◽  
Kumar Abhishek ◽  
Subhashis Jana ◽  
Subhendu Sekhar Bag ◽  
Vishal Trivedi

Background: Malaria Parasite relies heavily on signal transduction pathways to control growth, the progression of the life cycle and sustaining stress for its survival. Unlike kinases, Plasmodium&#039;s phosphatome is one of the smallest and least explored for identifying drug target for clinical intervention. PF14_0660 is a putative protein present on the chromosome 14 of Plasmodium falciparum genome. Methods: Multiple sequence alignment of PF14_0660 with other known protein phosphatase indicate the presence of phosphatase motif with specific residues essential for metal binding, catalysis and providing structural stability. PF14_0660 is a mixed &#945;/&#946; type of protein with several &#946; -sheet and α-helix arranged to form βαβαβα sub-structure. The surface properties of PF14_0660 is conserved with another phosphate of this family, but it profoundly diverges from the host protein tyrosine phosphatase. PF14_0660 was cloned, over-expressed and protein is exhibiting phosphatase activity in a dose-dependent manner. Docking of Heterocyclic compounds from chemical libraries into the PF14_0660 active site found nice fitting of several candidate molecules. Results: Compound PPinh6, PPinh 7 and PPinh 5 are exhibiting antimalarial activity with an IC50 of 1.4 &#177; 0.2&#181;M, 3.8 &#177; 0.3 &#181;M and 9.4 ± 0.6&#181M respectively. Compound PPinh 6 and PPinh 7 are inhibiting intracellular PF14_0660 phosphatase activity and killing parasite through the generation of reactive oxygen species. Conclusion: Hence, a combination of molecular modelling, virtual screening and biochemical study allowed us to explore the potentials of PF14_0660 as a drug target to design anti-malarials.


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