Formation of the pro-apoptotic death-inducing signaling complex (DISC) can be initiated in cancer cells via binding of tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) to its two pro-apoptotic receptors, TRAIL receptor 1 (TRAIL-R1) and TRAIL-R2. Primary components of the DISC are trimerized …

This paper evaluates the safety for humans with regard to consumption of protein hydrolysates and fractions thereof, including bioactive peptides. The available literature on the safety of protein, protein hydrolysates, fractions thereof and free amino acids on relevant food legislation is reviewed and …

Penicillin acylase (PA) from Escherichia coli can catalyze the coupling of an acyl group to penicillin- and cephalosporin-derived beta-lactam nuclei, a conversion that can be used for the industrial synthesis of beta-lactam antibiotics. The modest synthetic properties of the wild-type enzyme make it …

That sulfur is essential to humans is based on the requirement of S-animo acids for normal growth and maintenance of nitrogen balance and not on the optimization of metabolic proccesses involving the synthesis of non-protein sulphur containing compounds. This paper reviews the significance of sulfur …

This paper reviews the potential of whey protein to promote gut health. The high digestibility and specific amino acid composition of whey protein, as present in whey powder, whey protein concentrate and whey protein isolate, explain why ingestion of whey protein will exert this beneficial effect.

Genomics has multiplied the number of targets for new therapeutic interventions, but this has not yet lead to a marked increase of pharma pipeline outputs. The complexity of protein function in higher order biological systems is often underestimated. Translation from in vitro and in vivo results to the …

Mammalian promoters can be separated into two classes, conserved TATA box-enriched promoters, which initiate at a well-defined site, and more plastic, broad and evolvable CpG-rich promoters. We have sequenced tags corresponding to several hundred thousand transcription start sites (TSSs) in the mouse …

Bisphosphonates (BPs) are widely used in the treatment of osteolytic bone disease associated with multiple myeloma, and have been demonstrated to exert antitumor effects both in vitro and in vivo. However, the precise molecular mechanisms involved in the direct antitumor effects of BPs in vitro are not …

tmoA and related genes encode the alpha-subunit of the hydroxylase component of the major group (subgroup 1 of subfamily 2) of bacterial multicomponent mono-oxygenase enzyme complexes involved in aerobic benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylene (BTEX) degradation. A PCR-denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis …

IL-4 and IL-13 are prototypic Th2 cytokines that generate an “alternatively activated” phenotype in macrophages. We used high-density oligonucleotide microarrays to investigate the transcriptional profile induced in human monocytes by IL-13. After 8-h stimulation with IL-13, 142 genes were regulated …