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Several eukaryotic proteins with defined physiological roles may act as precursors of cryptic bioactive peptides released upon protein cleavage by host and/or bacterial proteases. Based on this, the term "cryptome" has been used to define the unique portion of the proteome encompassing proteins with the ability to generate bioactive peptides (cryptides) and proteins (crypteins) upon proteolytic cleavage. Hence, the cryptome represents a source of peptides with potential pharmacological interest. Among eukaryotic precursor proteins, human apolipoproteins play an important role, since promising bioactive peptides have been identified and characterized from apolipoproteins E, B, and A-I protein sequences. Human apolipoproteins derived peptides have been shown to exhibit antibacterial, anti-biofilm, antiviral, anti-inflammatory, anti-atherogenic, antioxidant, or anticancer activities in in vitro assays and, in some cases, also in in vivo experiments on animal models. The most interesting Host Defence Peptides (HDPs) identified thus far in human apolipoproteins are described here with a focus on their biological activities applicable to biomedicine. Altogether, reported evidence clearly indicates that cryptic peptides represent promising templates for the generation of new drugs and therapeutics against infectious diseases. Copyright© Bentham Science Publishers; For any queries, please email at epub@benthamscience.net.The frequent occurrence of multidrug-resistant strains to conventional antimicrobials has led to a clear decline of antibiotic therapies. Therefore, new molecules with different mechanisms of action are extremely necessary. Due to their unique properties, antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) represent a valid alternative to conventional antibiotics and many of them have been characterized for their activity and cytotoxicity. However, the effects that these peptides cause at concentrations below the minimum growth inhibitory concentration (MIC) have yet to be fully analyzed along with the underlying molecular mechanism. In this mini-review, the ability of AMPs to synergize with different antibiotic classes or different natural compounds is examined. Furthermore, data on microbial resistance induction are reported to highlight the importance of antibiotic resistance in the fight against infections. Finally, the effects that sub-MIC levels of AMPs can have on the bacterial pathogenicity are summarized while showing how signaling pathways can be valid therapeutic targets for treatment of infectious diseases. All these aspects support the high potential of AMPs as lead compounds for the development of new drugs with antibacterial and immunomodulatory activities. Copyright© Bentham Science Publishers; For any queries, please email at epub@benthamscience.net.BACKGROUND Plasmid DNA has been widely used in vaccination as well as in cell and gene therapy. It exists in multiple isoforms including supercoiled, nicked or open circular and linear forms. Regulatory agencies recommend having more than 80% of the supercoiled isoform for bulk release of plasmid products; thus it should be analyzed accordingly. METHODS AND RESULTS The traditional analysis method for plasmid DNA is agarose gel electrophoresis. However, due to time-consuming manual sample loading, visualization, and data analysis, it has limitations in obtaining consistently quantitative results. In this short communication, we introduce a fast, sensitive, and robust plasmid analysis method using capillary electrophoresis with laserinduced fluorescence detection (CE-LIF). CE-LIF analysis of the supercoiled isoform and its open circular counterpart was completed in 20 minutes with excellent sensitivity by using a common fluorescent groove binding dye. The advantage of the method was demonstrated by the purity analysis of two large plasmids (7 kb and 10 kb). The fully automated sample loading, separation and data analysis featured enhanced assay repeatability and ease of quantitation over agarose gel electrophoresis. CONCLUSION As a worked example, analysis of plasmid samples treated at elevated temperature during an accelerated stability test also demonstrated the applicability of CELIF to monitor plasmid degradation. Copyright© Bentham Science Publishers; For any queries, please email at epub@benthamscience.net.BACKGROUND Elevation of plasma free fatty acids as a principal aspect of type 2 diabetes maintains etiologically insulin insensitivity in target cells. TNF-α inhibitory effects on key insulin signaling pathway elements remain to be verified in insulin-resistant hepatic cells. Thus, TNF-α knockdown effects on the key elements of insulin signaling were investigated in the palmitate-induced insulin-resistant hepatocytes. The Akt serine kinase, a key protein of the insulin signaling pathway, phosphorylation was monitored to understand the TNF-α effect on probable enhancing of insulin resistance. METHODS Insulin-resistant HepG2 cells were produced using 0.5 mM palmitate treatment and shRNA-mediated TNF-α gene knockdown and its down-regulation confirmed using ELISA technique. Western blotting analysis used to assess the Akt protein phosphorylation status. RESULTS Palmitate-induced insulin resistance caused TNF-α protein overexpression 1.2-, 2.78, and 2.25- fold as compared to the control cells at post-treatment times of 8 h, 16 h, and 24 h, respectively. In the presence of palmitate, TNF-α expression showed around 30% reduction in TNF-α knockdown cells as compared to normal cells. In the TNF-α down-regulated cell, Akt phosphorylation was approximately 62% more than control cells after treatment with 100 nM insulin in conjugation with 0.5 mM palmitate. CONCLUSIONS The obtained data demonstrated that TNF-α protein expression reduction improved insulin-stimulated Akt phosphorylation in the HepG2 cells and decreased lipid-induced insulin resistance of the diabetic hepatocytes. Copyright© Bentham Science Publishers; For any queries, please email at epub@benthamscience.net.BACKGROUND Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common progressive neurodegenerative disorder, characterized by senile plaques and neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs). The amyloid-oligomer hypothesis indicates that the buildup of toxic oligomers in vivo is likely to impair memory and synaptic function. METHODS In our study, a kind of novel recombinant chimeric 12×(Aβ1-15-Th) antigen was developed as 12-mer Aβ1-42-like assembly vaccine. We designed this 12×(Aβ1-15-Th) antigen to mimic the assembly states of Aβ1-42 using twelve fold Aβ1-15 (B cell epitopes of human Aβ1-42) and foreign human T helper (Th) epitopes (as the T cell epitopes of Aβ1-42) constructs. Its immunogenicity as a subunit vaccine was tested on C57/BL6 mice, and the efficacy was shown by applying it to AD mice. RESULTS This 12×(Aβ1-15-Th) vaccine induced robust Aβ-specific antibodies in 3×Tg-AD and C57/BL6 mice. As early immunotherapeutic agent of AD, the 12×(Aβ1-15-Th) vaccine significantly improved the behavior performance of aged 3 × Tg-AD mice, and reduced the levels of soluble Aβ oligomers and soluble Aβ in the brain. In aged 3 × Tg-AD mice, immunotherapy with the 12×(Aβ1-15-Th) vaccine could prevent Aβ-induced decrease of synaptic proteins, which suggested that it has neuroprotective effects on the brain. CONCLUSION The novel recombinant 12×(Aβ1-15-Th) chimeric vaccine targeting of pathological conformations of Aβ oligomers has shown obvious neuroprotective benefits in preclinical AD model mouse, which indicates it is a good candidate vaccine for the prophylaxis of AD. Copyright© Bentham Science Publishers; For any queries, please email at epub@benthamscience.net.BACKGROUND To date, the significant osteoinductive potential of bone morphogenetic protein 2 (BMP-2) non-viral gene therapy cannot be fully exploited therapeutically. This is mainly due to weak gene delivery and brief expression peaks restricting the therapeutic effect. OBJECTIVE Our objective was to test the application of minicircle DNA, allowing prolonged expression potential. It offers notable advantages over conventional plasmid DNA. The lack of bacterial sequences and the resulting reduction in size, enables safe usage and improved performance for tissue regeneration. METHOD We inserted an optimized BMP-2 gene cassette with minicircle plasmid technology. BMP-2 minicircle plasmids were produced in E. coli yielding plasmids lacking bacterial backbone elements. Comparative studies of these BMP-2 minicircles and conventional BMP-2 plasmids were performed in vitro in cell systems, including bone marrow derived stem cells. Tests performed included gene expression profiles and cell differentiation assays. RESULTS A C2C12 cell line transfected with the BMP-2-Advanced minicircle showed significantly elevated expression of osteocalcin, alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity, and BMP-2 protein amount when compared to cells transfected with conventional BMP-2-Advanced plasmid. Furthermore, the plasmids show suitability for stem cell approaches by showing significantly higher levels of ALP activity and mineralization when introduced into human bone marrow stem cells (BMSCs). CONCLUSION We have designed a highly bioactive BMP-2 minicircle plasmid with the potential to fulfil clinical requirements for non-viral gene therapy in the field of bone regeneration. Copyright© Bentham Science Publishers; For any queries, please email at epub@benthamscience.net.All life forms typically possess homochirality, with rare exceptions. In the case of peptides and proteins, only L-amino acids are known to be encoded by genes. Nevertheless, D-amino acids have been identified in a variety of peptides synthesized by animal cells. They include neuroexcitatory and neuroprotective peptides, cardioexcitatory peptides, hyperglycemic hormones, opioid peptides, antimicrobial peptides, natriuretic and defensin-like peptides, and fibrinopeptides. This article is a review of their occurrence, structure and bioactivity. click here It further explores the pharmacology and potential medical applications of some of the peptides. Copyright© Bentham Science Publishers; For any queries, please email at epub@benthamscience.net.Many studies have shown that the spatial distribution of genes within a single chromosome exhibits distinct patterns. However, little is known about the characteristics of inter-chromosomal distribution of genes (including protein-coding genes, processed transcripts and pseudogenes) in different genomes. In this study, we explored these issues using the available genomic data of both human and model organisms. Moreover, we also analyzed the distribution pattern of protein-coding genes that have been associated with 14 common diseases and the insert/deletion mutations and single nucleotide polymorphisms detected by whole genome sequencing in an acute promyelocyte leukemia patient. We obtained the following novel findings. Firstly, inter-chromosomal distribution of genes displays a non-stochastic pattern and the gene densities in different chromosomes are heterogeneous. This kind of heterogeneity is observed in genomes of both lower and higher species. Secondly, protein-coding genes involved in certain biological processes tend to be enriched in one or a few chromosomes.