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Studies of membrane transporters have had great impact on our und- standing human diseases and the design of effective drugs. About 30% of current clinically marketed drugs are targeting membrane transporters or channels. Membrane Transporters: Methods and Protocols provides various practical methodologies for the ongoing research on membrane transporters. To provide readers the most up-to-date information, several emerging fields and methodologies are embraced in this book, including pharmacogenomics, bioin-formatics, and microarray technology. Pharmacogenomics studies of membrane transporters are useful in drug discovery and in predicting drug responses in the clinic. In this volume, the c...
This collection of robust, readily reproducible methods for microarray-based studies includes expert guidance in the optimal data analysis and informatics. On the methods side are proven techniques for monitoring subcellular RNA localization en masse, for mapping chromosomes at the resolution of a single gene, and for surveying the steady-state genome-wide distribution of DNA binding proteins in vivo. For those workers dealing with massive data sets, the book discusses the methodological aspects of data analysis and informatics in the design of microarray experiments, the choice of test statistic, and the assessment of observational significance, data reduction, and clustering.
Chemokines and their receptors play a central role in the pathogenesis of numerous, perhaps all, acute and chronic inflammatory diseases. About 50 distinct chemokines produced by a variety cell types and tissues either c- stitutively or in response to inflammatory stimuli are involved in a plethora of biological processes. These small secreted proteins exert their exquisitely variegated functions upon binding to a family of seven-transmembrane spanning G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs) composed of almost 20 distinct entities. The biological activities of chemokines range from the control of leukocyte trafficking in basal and inflammatory conditions to the regulation of hema- poiesis, angio...
Inflammation has been described as the basis of many pathologies of human disease. When one considers the updated signs of inflammation, they would be vasodilation, cell migration, and, in the case of chronic inflam- tion, cell proliferation, often with an underlying autoimmune basis. Gen- ally, inflammation may be divided into acute, chronic, and autoimmune, - though the editors believe that most, if not all, chronic states are often the result of an autoimmune response to an endogenous antigen. Thus, a proper understanding of the inflammatory basis may provide clues to new therap- tic targets not only in classical inflammatory diseases, but atherosclerosis, cancer, and ischemic heart disea...
The aim of this book is to provide detailed protocols for studying the molecular biology of the pathogen Mycobacterium tuberculosis, and its int- actions with host cells. As established mycobacterial laboratories move - wards exploiting the genome, and laboratories with expertise in other fields apply them to mycobacteria, both traditional and novel methodologies need to be reviewed. Thus the chapters in Mycobacterium tuberculosis Protocols range from perspectives on storage of strains and safety issues to the application of the latest functional genomics technologies. The last few years have been remarkable ones for research into M. tuber- losis. The most important landmark by far has been ...
In this new edition, the editors have thoroughly updated and dramatically expanded the number of protocols to take advantage of the newest technologies used in all branches of research and clinical medicine today. These proven methods include real time PCR, SNP analysis, nested PCR, direct PCR, and long range PCR. Among the highlights are chapters on genome profiling by SAGE, differential display and chip technologies, the amplification of whole genome DNA by random degenerate oligonucleotide PCR, and the refinement of PCR methods for the analysis of fragmented DNA from fixed tissues. Each fully tested protocol is described in step-by-step detail by an established expert in the field and includes a background introduction outlining the principle behind the technique, equipment and reagent lists, tips on trouble shooting and avoiding known pitfalls, and, where needed, a discussion of the interpretation and use of results.
Since the discovery of p53 as a tumor suppressor, numerous methods have evolved to reveal the unique structural features and biochemical functions of this protein. Several unique properties of p53 posed a challenge to understa- ing its normal function in the initial phase of its research. The low levels of p53 in normal cells, its stabilization under situations of genotoxic stress, induction of growth arrest, and apoptosis with stabilization of the protein, obstructed the visibility of its normal, unmutated function. The property of p53 that can sense a promoter and transactivate or inhibit is still not well understood. It is still not known whether it is the absence of the protein that caus...
For decades it has been known that structured conformations are important for the proper functioning of most cellular proteins. However, appreciation that protein folding to the functional conformations as well as the structural maintenance of protein molecules are very complex processes has only emerged during the last ten years. The intimate interplay uncovered by this scientific development led us to realize that perturbations of the protein folding process and disturbances of conformational maintenance are major disease mechanisms. This development has given rise to the concept of conformational diseases and the broader signature of protein folding diseases, comprising diseases in which ...
Cell gene engineering is emerging as a field with outstanding impact, not only in medicine/biology, but also, and perhaps most importantly, in agriculture and in all those food sciences involved in the fight against world hunger. Lentivirus vector-based technologies represent the last frontier in the development of powerful and reliable methods for both in vitro and in vivo gene transfer in eukaryotic animal cells. Although the design of lentivirus vectors is closely reminiscent of those already successfully applied to the construction of oncoretroviral vectors, some unique features, e.g., the ef- ciency in transducing both postmitotic and stem cells, render the use of lentivirus vectors inv...
Knowledge of the three-dimensional structure of a protein is absolutely required for the complete understanding of its function. The spatial orientation of amino acids in the active site of an enzyme demonstrates how substrate specificity is defined, and assists the medicinal chemist in the design of s- cific, tight-binding inhibitors. The shape and contour of a protein surface hints at its interaction with other proteins and with its environment. Structural ana- sis of multiprotein complexes helps to define the role and interaction of each individual component, and can predict the consequences of protein mutation or conditions that promote dissociation and rearrangement of the complex. Dete...