Alkylphospholipids are synthetic analogues of endogenous phosphatidylcholines with a remarkable ability: induce the selective apoptosis of exponentially growing tumor cells. One hypothesis concerning their mechanism of action is the inhibition of cytidine triphosphate:phosphocholine cytidyltransferase (CCT), which would significantly suppress the phosphatidylcholine biosynthesis to trigger apoptosis. Herein, homology modeling, docking simulations, and the analyses of molecular interaction fields are used to suggest the most probable binding modes of four alkylphospholipids (edelfosine, erucylphosphocholine, perifosine, and miltefosine) and lysophosphatidylcholine at the catalytic domain of human CCT. All compounds display bind modes in agreement with the corresponding groups found in the CCT substrate, phosphocholine, while their binding strengths are increased because of the interaction of the alkyl chains with hydrophobic residues from the M domain of the protein. Analyses of the geometry of the CCT binding‐site also suggest that small groups, such as benzyl/2‐phenylethyl ethers or equivalent heterocycles, could replace the O‐methyl group in edelfosine to yield even better inhibitors. It is believed this study can guide the development of new alkylphospholipids with an improved profile for the inhibition of phosphatidylcholine biosynthesis, a critical component for cell cycle progression that can be explored in cancer chemotherapy. Practical Applications: Studies focusing on the interactions between small ligands and their protein targets are decisive for the comprehension of how conformational changes in the macromolecular structure dictates the biological activity and, consequently, how they can be explored in drug discovery. Most of the current studies on alkylphospholipids focuses on their physicochemical interactions with cholesterol and sphingolipids in lipid rafts that, because of the variability and complexity of the membrane phases, hardly can provide structural data in the X‐ray crystallography assays necessary for molecular modeling studies. Therefore, by exploring the inhibition of human cytidine triphosphate:phosphocholine cytidyltransferase as an alternative and, probably, complementary hypothesis to the membrane rafts, a helpful strategy can be provided to overcome the clinical limitations of alkylphospholipids. 相似文献
All the works so far on simulation of grain drying by natural convection of air presents conflicting reslts on the drying time forecast. In this work the models of Hukill, Thompson and Michigan are tested in same type of dryer. Appropriate equations are developed to correct the drying time, starting form the models of Thompson and Hukill. The solution of the equations of michigan model is developed on fintie difference and similarly and some speical technuques are utilized on the Thompson model. 53 test results are utilzed here to validate the simulation model of drying. 相似文献
The tractability of petroleum is intimately related to the type of emulsion that is formed during its production. The characteristics of water/oil and oil/water emulsions depend on some factors such as the density and the composition of the oil. In this work, the properties of oils coming from the Campos Basin, Brazil, were evaluated by means of water-in-oil emulsion physico-chemical, interfacial, and characterization tests. Such properties have been correlated with the tractability of the petroleum in order to establish a behavior prediction method based on the properties of such petroleum. The main tool used in this work was the chemiometry technique. Through this method, it was possible to conclude that density, viscosity, surface tension, and nickel content were the properties that influenced the separation of the oils. Density, pour point, initial temperature of crystal formation (TIAC), characterization factor, and nitrogen content were the properties that influenced the diameter of the emulsion drops. 相似文献
Multimedia Tools and Applications - Glaucoma is the second major cause of vision loss worldwide. It is usually caused by the increase in the intraocular pressure, which damages the optic nerve... 相似文献
During the multi-objective optimization process, numerous efficient solutions may be generated to form the Pareto frontier. Due to the complexity of formulating and solving mathematical problems, choosing the best point to be implemented becomes a non-trivial task. Thus, this paper introduces a weighting strategy named robust optimal point selection, based on ratio diversification/error, to choose the most preferred Pareto optimal point in multi-objective optimization problems using response surface methodology. Furthermore, this paper proposes to explore a theoretical gap—the prediction variance behavior related to the weighting. The ratios Shannon’s entropy/error and diversity/error and the unscaled prediction variance are experimentally modeled using mixture design and the optimal weights for the multi-objective optimization process are defined by the maximization of the proposed measures. The study could demonstrate that the weights used in the multi-objective optimization process influence the prediction variance. Furthermore, the use of diversification measures, such as entropy and diversity, associated with measures of error, such as mean absolute percent error, was determined to be useful in mapping regions of minimum variance within the Pareto optimal responses obtained in the optimization process.