28-Jun-2021
Inhibition of protein–DNA interactions represents an attractive strategy to modulate essential cellular functions. We reported the synthesis of unique oligoamide-based foldamers that adopt single helical conformations and mimic the negatively charged phosphate moieties of B-DNA. These mimics alter the activity of DNA interacting enzymes used as targets for cancer ...
03-Jun-2021
Interleukins and associated cytokines serve as the means of communication for innate and adaptive immune cells as well as non-immune cells and tissues. Thus, interleukins have a critical role in cancer development, progression and control. Interleukins can nurture an environment enabling and favouring cancer growth while simultaneously being essential for a ...
03-Jun-2021
The efficacy of adoptive cell therapy for solid tumours is hampered by the poor accumulation of the transferred T cells in tumour tissue. Here, we show that forced expression of C-X-C chemokine receptor type 6 (whose ligand is highly expressed by human and murine pancreatic cancer cells and tumour-infiltrating immune cells) in antigen-specific T cells enhanced ...
21-Apr-2021
The ongoing outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) coronavirus 2 (SARS‐CoV‐2) demonstrates the continuous threat of emerging coronaviruses (CoVs) to public health. SARS‐CoV‐2 and SARS‐CoV share an otherwise non‐conserved part of non‐structural protein 3 (Nsp3), therefore named as “SARS‐unique domain” (SUD). We previously found a yeast‐2‐hybrid ...
12-Mar-2021
Chemotherapy resistance is the main impediment in the treatment of acute myeloid leukaemia (AML). Despite rapid advances, the various mechanisms inducing resistance development remain to be defined in detail. Here we report that loss-of-function mutations (LOF) in the histone methyltransferase EZH2 have the potential to confer resistance against the ...
11-Mar-2021
RNA-binding proteins (RBPs) are emerging as important effectors of the cellular DNA damage response (DDR). The RBP FUS is implicated in RNA metabolism and DNA repair, and it undergoes reversible liquid–liquid phase separation (LLPS) in vitro. Here, we demonstrate that FUS-dependent LLPS is necessary for the initiation of the DDR. Using laser microirradiation in ...
08-Feb-2021
Cellulose is the most abundant organic molecule on Earth and represents a renewable and practically everlasting feedstock for the production of biofuels and chemicals. Self-assembled owing to the high-affinity cohesin-dockerin interaction, cellulosomes are huge multi-enzyme complexes with unmatched efficiency in the degradation of recalcitrant lignocellulosic ...
22-Jan-2021
The selective binding properties of a 13-mer oligoamide foldamer capsule composed of 4 different aromatic subunits are reported. The capsule was designed to recognize dicarboxylic acids through multiple-point interactions owing to a combination of protonation/deprotonation events, H-bonding, and geometrical constraints imparted by the rigidity of the foldamer ...
21-Jan-2021
The design and synthesis of a novel rotaxane/foldaxane hybrid architecture is reported. The winding of an aromatic oligoamide helix host around a dumbbell‐shaped thread‐like guest, or axle, already surrounded by a macrocycle was evidenced by NMR spectroscopy and X‐ray crystallography. The process proved to depend on the position of the macrocycle along the axle ...
06-Nov-2020
The orchestration of ever larger conformational changes is made possible by the development of increasingly complex foldamers. Aromatic sheets, a rare motif in synthetic foldamer structures, have been designed so as to form discrete stacks of intercalated aromatic strands through the self‐assembly of two identical subunits. Ion‐mobility ESI‐MS confirms the ...
