• Journal of Integrative Natural Science
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.234-240
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• 2014

C-C chemokine receptor type 4 (CCR4) is a chemokine receptor with seven transmembrane helices and it belongs to the GPCR family. It plays an important role in asthma, lung disease, atopic dermatitis, allergic bronchopulmonary aspergillosis, cancer, inflammatory bowel disease, the mosquito-borne tropical diseases, such as dengue fever and allergic rhinitis. Because of its role in wide spectrum of disease processes, CCR4 is considered to be an important drug target. Three dimensional structure of the protein is essential to determine the functions. In the present study homology modeling of human CCR4 was performed based on crystal structure of CCR5 chemokine receptor. The generated models were validated using various parameters. Among the generated homology models the best one is selected based on validation result. The model can be used for performing further docking studies to identifying the critical interacting residues.

• Genomics & Informatics
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.18.1-18.8
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• 2021

G protein–coupled receptors (GPCRs), including olfactory receptors, account for the largest group of genes in the human genome and occupy a very important position in signaling systems. Although olfactory receptors, which belong to the broader category of GPCRs, play an important role in monitoring the organism's surroundings, their actual three-dimensional structure has not yet been determined. Therefore, the specific details of the molecular interactions between the receptor and the ligand remain unclear. In this report, the interactions between human olfactory receptor 1A1 and its odorant molecules were simulated using computational methods, and we explored how the chemically simple odorant molecules activate the olfactory receptor.

• BMB Reports
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• v.43 no.5
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• pp.337-343
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• 2010

Fenofibrate, an agonist of $PPAR{\alpha}$, plays an important role in activating many proteins catalyzing lipid metabolism, and it also has a considerable effect on improvement of insulin sensitivity in the diabetic condition. To investigate fenofibrate-dependent expression of peripheral tissue proteins in diabetes, we analyzed whole muscle or fat proteins of fenofibrate-fed OLETF rats, an animal model of type II diabetes, using 2-dimensional gel electrophoresis. We found that many proteins were specifically expressed in a fenofibrate-dependent manner in these diabetic rats. In particular, a functionally unknown C11orf59 protein was differentially expressed in the muscle tissues (about 5-fold increase) in fenofibrate-fed OLETF rats as compared to control rats. Additionally, the signal proteins phosphatidylethanolamine binding protein and IkB interacting protein were differentially regulated in the fenofibrate-treated adipose tissues. We suggest here that these proteins might be involved in controlling lipid or carbohydrate metabolism in diabetes via $PPAR{\alpha}$ activation.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Crop Science Conference
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• 2017.06a
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• pp.130-130
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• 2017

Sorghum bicolor is considered as copper-tolerant species. The present study was conducted to understand the copper tolerance mechanism in Sorghum seedling roots. Morphological and effects of Cu on other interacting ions were observed prominently in the roots when the plants were subjected to different concentrations (0, 50, and $100{\mu}M$) of $CuSO_4$. However, the morphological characteristics were reduced by Cu stress, and the most significant growth inhibition was observed in plants treated with the highest concentration of $Cu^{2+}$ ions ($100{\mu}M$). In the proteome analysis, high-throughput two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis coupled with MALDI-TOF-TOF mass spectrometry was performed to explore the molecular responses of Cu-induced sorghum seedling roots. In two-dimensional silver-stained gels, a total of 422 differentially expressed proteins (${\geq}1.5-fold$) were identified using Progenesis SameSpot software. A total of 21 protein spots (${\geq}1.5-fold$) from Cu-induced sorghum roots were analyzed by mass spectrometry. Of the 21 differentially expressed protein spots from Cu-induced sorghum roots, a total of 10 proteins were up-regulated, and 11 proteins were down-regulated. The abundance of the most identified protein species from the roots that function in stress response and metabolism was significantly enhanced, while protein species involved in transcription and regulation were severely reduced. The results obtained from the present study may provide insights into the tolerance mechanism of seedling roots in Sorghum.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.380-388
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• 2022

Snail is implicated in tumour growth and metastasis and is up-regulated in various human tumours. Although the role of Snails in epithelial-mesenchymal transition, which is particularly important in cancer metastasis, is well known, how they regulate tumour growth is poorly described. In this study, the possible molecular mechanisms of Snail in tumour growth were explored. Baculoviral inhibitor of apoptosis protein (IAP) repeat-containing protein 3 (BIRC3), a co-activator of cell proliferation during tumourigenesis, was identified as a Snail-binding protein via a yeast two-hybrid system. Since BIRC3 is important for cell survival, the effect of BIRC3 binding partner Snail on cell survival was investigated in ovarian cancer cell lines. Results revealed that Bax expression was activated, while the expression levels of anti-apoptotic proteins were markedly decreased by small interfering RNA (siRNA) specific for Snail (siSnail). siSnail, the binding partner of siBIRC3, activated the tumour suppressor function of p53 by promoting p53 protein stability. Conversely, BIRC3 could interact with Snail, for this reason, the possibility of BIRC3 involvement in EMT was investigated. BIRC3 overexpression resulted in a decreased expression of the epithelial marker and an increased expression of the mesenchymal markers. siSnail or siBIRC3 reduced the mRNA levels of matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-2 and MMP-9. These results provide evidence that Snail promotes cell proliferation by interacting with BIRC3 and that BIRC3 might be involved in EMT via binding to Snail in ovarian cancer cells. Therefore, our results suggested the novel relevance of BIRC3, the binding partner of Snail, in ovarian cancer development.

• BMB Reports
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• v.43 no.6
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• pp.432-437
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• 2010

LBH is a transcription factor as a candidate gene for CHD associated with partial trisomy 2p syndrome. To identify potential LBH-interacting partners, a yeast two-hybrid screen using LBH as a bait was performed with a human heart cDNA library. One of the clones identified encodes ${\alpha}B$-crystallin. Co-immunoprecipitation and GST pull-down assays showed that LBH interacts with ${\alpha}B$-crystallin, which is further confirmed by mammalian two-hybrid assays. Co-localization analysis showed that in COS-7 cells, ${\alpha}B$-crystallin that is cytoplasmic alone, accumulates partialy in the nucleus when co-transfected with LBH. Transient transfection assays indicated that overexpression of LBH or ${\alpha}B$-crystallin reduced the transcriptional activities of p53 and p21, respectively, Overexpression of both ${\alpha}B$-crystallin and LBH together resulted in a stronger repression of the transcriptional activities of p21 and p53. These results showed that the interaction of LBH and ${\alpha}B$-crystallin may inhibit synergistically the transcriptional regulation of p53 and p21.

• Development and Reproduction
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.165-171
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• 1998

p62 is a novel cytoplsmic protein that binds to SH2 domain of p56$^{lck}$, lymphocyte-specific protein tyrosine kinase, and the expression of p62 was observed in most tissues. In addition p62 interacts with various proteins including ubiquitin and atypical PKC isoform, indicating its diverse biological role in different tissues. However, little is known about functional connection between p62 and its binding proteins. In the present study, a novel cellular protein, p62 has been shown to bind to 14-3-3 $\tau$ isoform that is specific for T cells. Moreover, overexpression of p62 in T cells caused to delay onset of UV-induced apoptosis characterized by DNA fragmentation and breakdown of poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP). Lately, 14-3-3 proteins have been shown to mediate survival signal via interacting proapoptotic Bad protein in the Iymphocyte. These results suggested the presence of p62-mediated regulatory mechanism during apoptosis in T cells, in which activation-induced apoptotic signal could be interfered by p62 and 14-3-3 protein.n.

• BMB Reports
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• v.37 no.6
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• pp.741-748
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• 2004

The hepatitis C virus is associated with the development of liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinomas. Among the 10 polyproteins produced by the virus, no function has been clearly assigned to the non-structural 5A (NS5A) protein. This study was designed to identify the hepatocellular proteins that interact with NS5A of the HCV. Yeast two-hybrid experiments were performed with a human liver cDNA prey-library, using five different NS5A derivatives as baits, the full-length NS5A (NS5A-F, amino acid (aa) 1~447) and its four different derivatives, denoted as NS5A-A (aa 1~150), -B (aa 1~300), -C (aa 300~447) and D (aa 150~447). NS5A-F, NS5A-B and NS5A-C gave two, two and 10 candidate clones, respectively, including an AHNAK-related protein, the secreted frizzled-related protein 4 (SFRP4), the N-myc downstream regulated gene 1 (NDRG1), the cellular retinoic acid binding protein 1 (CRABP-1), ferritin heavy chain (FTH1), translokin, tumor-associated calcium signal transducer 2 (TACSTD2), phosphatidylinositol 4-kinase (PI4K) and $centaurin{\delta}$ 2 ($CENT{\delta}2$). However, NS5A-A produced no candidates and NS5A-D was not suitable as bait due to transcriptional activity. Based on an in vitro binding assay, CRABP-1, PI4K, $CENT{\delta}2$ and two unknown fusion proteins with maltose binding protein (MBP), were confirmed to interact with the glutathione S-transferase (GST)/NS5A fusion protein. Furthermore, the interactions of CRABP-1, PI4K and $CENT{\delta}2$ were not related to the PXXP motif (class II), as judged by a domain analysis. While their biological relevance is under investigation, the results contribute to a better understanding of the possible role of NS5A in hepatocellular signaling pathways.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.11
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• pp.4475-4482
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• 2014

Background: Cisplatin, a DNA damaging agent, induces apoptosis through increasing DNA fragmentation. However, identification of intrinsic resistance molecules against Cisplatin is vital to estimate the success of therapy. Bag-1 (Bcl-2-associated anthanogene) is one anti-apoptotic protein involved in drug resistance impacting on therapeutic efficiency. Elevated levels of this protein are related with increase cell proliferation rates, motility and also cancer development. For this reason, we aimed to understand the role of Bag-1 expression in Cisplatin-induced apoptosis in HeLa cervix cancer cells. Cisplatin decreased cell viability in time- and dose-dependent manner in wt and Bag-1L+HeLa cells. Although, $10{\mu}M$ Cisplatin treatment induced cell death within 24h by activating caspases in wt cells, Bag-1L stable transfection protected cells against Cisplatin treatment. To assess the potential protective role of Bag-1, we first checked the expression profile of interacting anti-apoptotic partners of Bag-1. We found that forced Bag-1L expression prevented Cisplatin-induced apoptosis through acting on Mcl-1 expression, which was reduced after Cisplatin treatment in wt HeLa cells. This mechanism was also supported by the regulation of heat shock protein (Hsp) family members, Hsp90 and Hsp40, which were involved in the regulation Bag-1 interactome including several anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 family members and c-Raf.

• BMB Reports
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• v.41 no.2
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• pp.158-163
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• 2008

Hepatitis B virus X protein (HBx) is essential for hepatitis B virus infection and exerts a pleiotropic effect on various cellular machineries. HBx has been also demonstrated as an indirect transcriptional transactivator of various different viral and cellular promoters. In addition, HBx is involved in the development of various liver diseases including hepatocellular carcinoma. However the mechanism of HBx in hepatocellular carcinogenesis remains largely unknown. In this study, to identify possible new cellular proteins interacting with HBx, we carried out yeast two-hybrid assay. We obtained several possible cellular partners including VBP1, a binding factor for VHL tumor suppressor protein. The direct physical interaction between HBx and VBP1 in vitro and in vivo was confirmed by immunoprecipitation assay. In addition, we found that VBP1 facilitates HBx-induced $NF{\kappa}B$ activation and cell proliferation. These results implicate the important role of HBx in the development of hepatocellular carcinoma through its interaction with VBP1.