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Protein-polymer association in solution driven by a short-range attraction has been investigated using a simple coarse-grain model solved by Monte Carlo simulations. The effect of the spatial distribution of the hydrophobic surface residues of the protein on the adsorption of weakly hydrophobic polymers at variable polymer concentration, polymer length, and polymer stiffness has been considered. S

The DEK oncogene is highly expressed in cells from most human tissues and overexpressed in a large and growing number of cancers. It also fuses with the NUP214 gene to form the DEK-NUP214 fusion gene in a subset of acute myeloid leukemia. Originally characterized as a member of this translocation, DEK has since been implicated in epigenetic and transcriptional regulation but its role in these proc

Although extensive research has demonstrated host-retrovirus microevolutionary dynamics, it has been difficult to gain a deeper understanding of the macroevolutionary patterns of host-retrovirus interactions. Here we use recent technological advances to infer broad patterns in retroviral diversity, evolution, and host-virus relationships by using a large-scale phylogenomic approach using endogenou

Superantigens are immune-stimulatory toxins produced by Staphylococcus aureus, which are able to interact with host immune receptors to induce a massive release of cytokines, causing toxic shock syndrome and possibly death. In this article, we present the x-ray structure of staphylococcal enterotoxin B (SEB) in complex with its receptors, the TCR and MHC class II, forming a ternary complex. The st

Diabetes is a much more heterogeneous disease than the present subdivision into types 1 and 2 assumes; type 1 and type 2 diabetes probably represent extremes on a range of diabetic disorders. Both type 1 and type 2 diabetes seem to result from a collision between genes and environment. Although genetic predisposition establishes susceptibility, rapid changes in the environment (ie, lifestyle facto

BACKGROUND:Osteochondral fractures are often seen on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of acutely injured knees, but their existence has gained little interest because of a lack of knowledge of their relation to treatment options and outcome. It is not clear whether acute phase synovial fluid (SF) concentrations of cartilage and bone markers and proinflammatory cytokines are different between traum

Due to the recent European legislations posing a ban of animal tests for safety assessment within the cosmetic industry, development of in vitro alternatives for assessment of skin sensitization is highly prioritized. To date, proposed in vitro assays are mainly based on single biomarkers, which so far have not been able to classify and stratify chemicals into subgroups, related to risk or potency

Gram-negative bacteria have the ability to produce outer membrane-derived vesicles (OMVs) that are released into the extracellular milieu. Even though this intriguing phenomenon is well-known since many years, various aspects of bacterial OMVs are not fully described and are still in the process of being characterized in detail. One major reason for this is that depending on the bacterial species

Sequence variation of antigenic proteins allows pathogens to evade antibody attack. The variable protein commonly includes a hypervariable region (HVR), which represents a key target for antibodies and is therefore predicted to be immunodominant. To understand the mechanism(s) of antibody evasion, we analyzed the clinically important HVR-containing M proteins of the human pathogen Streptococcus py

For a long time, reactive oxygen species (ROS) produced by the phagocyte NADPH oxidase (NOX2) complex have been considered harmful mediators of inflammation owing to their highly reactive nature. However, there are an increasing number of findings suggesting that ROS produced by the NOX2 complex are anti-inflammatory and prevent autoimmune responses, thus challenging existing dogma. ROS might not