|
|
Synthesis of peptides as potential ligands of aspartate protease HIV and MAY1 and confirmation of their inhibitory activity
Klikarová, Ivana ; Šácha, Pavel (advisor) ; Žáková, Lenka (referee)
The lentivirus known as the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is transmitted through blood and body fluids, causing the destruction of CD4 lymphocytes and leading to opportunistic infections that define acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). The urgent need for new antiretroviral drugs stems from concerns about the long-term toxicity of existing drugs, HIV-1 variants resistant to treatment, and frequent changes in patient treatment. Drug development is focused on inhibitors of two viral enzymes, reverse transcriptase and protease. Antiretroviral therapy uses protease inhibitors in combination with nucleoside analogs to effectively suppress viral replication, prolonging the lives of HIV-infected patients and reducing morbidity. Cryptococcus neoformans and cryptococcus gattii infections primarily affect the immunocompromised population and have high morbidity and mortality rates. Resistance to commonly used antifungals has been emerging, making it more difficult to treat these infections. Protease inhibitor components used in antiretroviral therapies have shown some clinical efficacy in these opportunistic infections, particularly in Major Aspartyl peptidase 1, an aspartate protease belonging to the same family of proteases as the HIV protease. To search for low molecular weight peptide ligands,...
|
|
|
Preparation and characterization of vesiculin, a two-chain protein derived from IGF-2
Mrzílková, Karolína ; Žáková, Lenka (advisor) ; Pačesová, Andrea (referee)
Hormones of insulin family are one of the most studied groups of proteins due to their connection to large number of diseases including type two diabetes mellitus, tumorigenesis and some neurodegenerative diseases. The newest member of this superfamily is a two-chain analogue of IGF-2 called vesiculin. This peptide was originally isolated from secretory granules of mouse βTC6-F7 cell line and is currently believed to have a endocrine or paracrine effect on pancreatic β-cells. Its sequence homology with IGF-2 and structural similarity to insulin foreshadows vesiculin's potential metabolic, proliferation and growth properties and further secures its place as scientifically interesting and clinically lucrative topic. The insulin theme is corelated with insulin resistance, pathological state present primarily in early stages of development of type two diabetes mellitus. Vesiculin is able to stimulate glucose uptake and glycogen synthesis even in this condition which differentiates it form insulin and IGF-2 whose glucoregulatory activity is blunted in face of insulin resistance. Further research of vesiculin and insulin family receptor interaction, including dimeric tyrosinekinase receptor for IGF-1 and insulin, but also monomeric IGF-2 receptor, can provide more knowledge on character of this binding...
|
|
|
Development of instrumentation and high-throughput screening methods for peptide ligand discovery and validation
Kryštůfek, Robin ; Konvalinka, Jan (advisor) ; Jiráček, Jiří (referee)
Peptides are used as synthetically available and easily derivatizable scaffold upon which it is possible to develop ligands targeting broad spectrum of biological targets. A time-tested approach to peptide binder identification is the preparation and screening of combinatorial libraries. Bypassing of this complicated procedure is possible by using biological systems for presentation, identification and selection of peptides based on the principle of in vitro evolution - i.e. display techniques. There are two complementary automated solutions for peptide binder identification described in this work. First is the SPENSER parallel peptide synthesizer, developed as a part of this diploma project, which can be used for peptide ligand discovery and optimization as well as validation of ligands identified using display techniques. Several libraries consisting of a total of 1 052 peptides have been prepared and then used to describe its potential applications. A sample of 154 preparations, representing 14.6 % analytical coverage of the prepared libraries, showed an average purity of 67 ± 19 % according to LC-MS. The libraries presented illustrate that SPENSER is a suitable tool for the parallel synthesis of linear and disulfide-cyclized peptides with limited variability, or libraries consisting of short...
|
guest ::
