1. Heterochiral dipeptide d-phenylalanyl- l-phenylalanine (H-D Phe-L Phe-OH) as a potential inducer of metastatic suppressor NM23H1 in p53 wild-type and mutant cells
Mir Mohd Faheem, Junaid Ur Rahim, Syed Mudabir Ahmad, Khalid Bashir Mir, Gursimar Kaur, Madhulika Bhagat, Rajkishor Rai, Anindya Goswami Mol Carcinog. 2022 Dec;61(12):1143-1160. doi: 10.1002/mc.23465. Epub 2022 Oct 14.
In recent years, significant progress has been made to the use-case of small peptides because of their diversified edifice and hence their versatile application scope in cancer therapy. Here we identify the heterochiral dipeptide H-D Phe-L Phe-OH (F1) as a potent inducer of the metastatic suppressor NM23H1. We divulge the effect of F1 on the major EMT/metastasis-associated genes and the implications on the invasion and migration ability of cancer cells. The anti-invasive potential of F1 was directly correlated with NM23H1 expression. Mechanistically, F1 treatment elevated p53 levels as validated by localization and transcriptional studies. In the NM23H1 knockdown condition, F1 failed to induce any p53 expression/nuclear localization, indicating that the upregulation in p53 expression by F1 is NM23H1 dependent. We also demonstrate how the antimetastatic potential of F1 is primarily mediated through NM23H1 irrespective of the p53 status of the cell. However, both NM23H1 and a functional p53 protein in conjunction govern the apoptotic and cytostatic potential of F1. Coimmunoprecipitation studies unraveled the augmentation of the p53 and NM23H1 interaction in p53 wild-type cells. However, in p53 mutated cells, no such enrichment was evidenced. We employed mouse isogenic cell lines (4T-1 and 4T-1 p53) to determine the in vivo efficacy of F1 (spontaneous and experimental models). Decreased tumor volume in the cohort injected with 4T-1 p53 cells demonstrated that while the antimetastatic potential of F1 was reliant on NM23H1, p53 activation was required for ablation of primary tumor burden. Our findings unravel that F1 treatment induces significant abrogation of the migration, invasion and metastatic potential of both p53 wild-type and p53 deficient cancers mediated through NM23H1.
2. Preparation of Z-L-Phe-OH-NBD imprinted microchannel and its molecular recognition study
Jian-Du Lei, Ai-Jun Tong Spectrochim Acta A Mol Biomol Spectrosc. 2005 Apr;61(6):1029-33. doi: 10.1016/j.saa.2004.06.001.
An integrated microchip was presented for selective recognition of Z-L-Phe-OH-NBD, using molecular imprinting technique. Molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) were prepared by copolymerization in the presence of template molecule Z-L-Phe-OH-NBD, in which methacrylic acid and 4-vinylpyridine were used as functional monomers and ethylene dimethacrylate used as crosslinker. Imprinted polymer particles were introduced into a microchannel fabricated with a new material i.e. poly(methylvinylsiloxane) by simply rapid prototyping method. Imprinted effects were evaluated by laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) detection where the results indicated that good selective recognition for Z-L-Phe-OH-NBD in the imprinted polymer was obtained; the adsorption percentage of Z-L-Phe-OH-NBD was 61%. In contrast to conventional molecular imprinting analysis, integration shortened overall analysis time from 4h to 10 min.
3. Two pulse recoupling
Navin Khaneja, Ashutosh Kumar J Magn Reson. 2017 Aug;281:162-171. doi: 10.1016/j.jmr.2017.06.004.
The paper describes a family of novel recoupling pulse sequences in magic angle spinning (MAS) solid state NMR, called two pulse recoupling. These pulse sequences can be employed for both homonuclear and heteronuclear recoupling experiments and are robust to dispersion in chemical shifts and rf-inhomogeneity. The homonuclear pulse sequence consists of a building block (π)ϕ(π)-ϕ where ϕ=π4n, and n is number of blocks in a rotor period. The recoupling block is made robust to rf-inhomogeneity by extending it to (π)ϕ(π)-ϕ(π)π+ϕ(π)π-ϕ. The heteronuclear recoupling pulse sequence consists of a building block [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] on channel I and S, where ϕ1=3π8n,ϕ2=π8n and n is number of blocks in a rotor period. The recoupling block is made robust to rf-inhomogeneity by extending it to [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] on two channels respectively. The recoupling pulse sequences mix the z magnetization. Experimental quantification of this method is shown for13Cα-13CO homonuclear recoupling in a sample of Glycine and 15N-13Cα heteronuclear recoupling in Alanine. Application of this method is demonstrated on a sample of tripeptide N-formyl-[U-13C,15N]-Met-Leu-Phe-OH (MLF). Compared to R-sequences (Levitt, 2002), these sequences are more robust to rf-inhomogeneity and give better sensitivity, as shown in Fig. 3.
