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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...
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...
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...
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.
It has become clear that tumors arise from excessive cell proliferation and a c- responding reduction in cell death. Tumors result from the successive accumulation of mutations in key regulatory target genes over time. During the 1980s, a number of oncogenes were characterized, whereas from the 1990s to the present, the emphasis shifted to tumor suppressor genes (TSGs). It has become clear that oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes function in the same pathways, providing positive and ne- tive growth regulatory activities. The signaling pathways controlled by these genes involve virtually every process in cell biology, including nuclear events, cell cycle, cell death, cytoskeletal, cell membr...
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...
Alan V. Smrcka presents a collection of cutting-edge methods for investigating G protein signaling from a variety of perspectives ranging from in vitro biochemistry to whole animal studies. Among the readily reproducible techniques presented are those for the purification of G proteins and effectors enzymes, assays of these purified G proteins and effector enzymes, and for the study of G proteins interactions with effectors in intact cells. Additional methods are provided for assaying G protein coupled receptor structure, function, and localization, and for studying the physiological roles for endogenous G proteins.
The natural, biological, medical, and related sciences would not be what they are today without the microscope. After the introduction of the optical microscope, a second breakthrough in morphostructural surface analysis occurred in the 1940s with the development of the scanning electron microscope (SEM), which, instead of light (i. e. , photons) and glass lenses, uses electrons and electromagnetic lenses (magnetic coils). Optical and scanning (or transmission) electron microscopes are called “far-field microscopes” because of the long distance between the sample and the point at which the image is obtained in comparison with the wavelengths of the photons or electrons involved. In this ...
A collection of cutting-edge techniques for using capillary electrophoresis (CE) to analyze complex carbohydrates. These readily reproducible protocols provide methods for sample preparation, analysis of mono- and oligosaccharides, glycoproteins, and glycoconjugates. A useful appendix describes the structures of the most commonly encountered carbohydrate residues and olgosaccharides from mammalian and bacterial origins. Each protocol contains detailed information on reagents, apparatus, notes, comments, and tips on procedures.
A comprehensive collection of readily reproducible techniques for the manipulation of recombinant plasmids using the bacterial host E. coli. The authors describe proven methods for cloning DNA into plasmid vectors, transforming plasmids into E. coli, and analyzing recombinant clones. They also include protocols for the construction and screening of libraries, as well as specific techniques for specialized cloning vehicles, such as cosmids, bacterial artificial chromosomes, l vectors, and phagemids. Common downstream applications such as mutagenesis of plasmids, recombinant protein expression, and the use of reporter genes, are also described.