• BMB Reports
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• v.42 no.5
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• pp.260-264
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• 2009

Tumor necrosis factor-$\alpha$ (TNF-$\alpha$) exhibits cytotoxicity towards various tumor cells in vitro and induces apoptotic necrosis in transplanted tumors in vivo. It also shows severe toxicity when used systemically for the treatment of cancer patients, hampering the development of TNF-$\alpha$ as a potential anticancer drug. In order to understand the structure-function relation of TNF-$\alpha$ with respect to receptor binding, we selected four regions on the bottom of the TNF-$\alpha$ trimer that are in close contact with the receptor and carried out mutagenesis studies and computational modeling. From the study, various TNF-$\alpha$ muteins with a high therapeutic index were identified. These results will provide a structural basis for the design of highly potent TNF-$\alpha$ for therapeutic purposes. By conjugating TNF-$\alpha$ muteins with a high therapeutic index to a fusion partner, which targets a marker of angiogenesis, it could be possible to develop TNF-$\alpha$ based anticancer drugs.

• Archives of Pharmacal Research
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• v.18 no.6
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• pp.371-375
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• 1995

Erythropoietin (EPO), a glycoprotein hormone, regulates the proliferation and differentiation of ereythroid progenitor cells. Many attempts have been made to identify the functionally important amino acids of the hormone. One of those early studies has found that heavy redioiodination of EPO caused the loss of its biological activity, suggesting some important role of one of the four tyrosine residues (Goldwasser, 1981). Thus, in this study, we have generated and tested four $Tyr{\dashrightarrow}Phe$ substitution mutants to clarify the possible role of the tyrosine residue(s) in the hormone's Tyrosine residue(s) in the hormone's biological activity. When the mutant and wild type EPO cDBAs were transfected into COS-7 cells and the biological activities of the muteins were assayed using the primary murine erythroid spleen cells, no mutation tested was found to affect the biological activity of the hormone. Thus we conclude that, contrary to the previous observation, none of the four tyrosine in eryghropoietin is critically involved in the binding of the hormone to its receptor.