Coronavirus fusion peptide plays more invasive role in infection than previously thought

More specifically, the study showed that the female patient produced very few cathelicidins, which is a natural toxin found in the immune cells of the lungs needed to fight tuberculosis. In most people infected by tuberculosis, tuberculosis bacteria attack the immune cells of the lungs. The immune cells fight the bacteria by eating them. But the tuberculosis bacterium has developed various evasive mechanisms that reduce the immune cells’ ability to digest and thus to kill the Mtb. “You could say that the tuberculosis bacterium has developed a way to lull the immune cells to sleep. This enables the disease the hide inside the immune cells, making it invisible to other parts of the immune system,” Martin Kongsbak-Wismann explains. This is where vitamin D enters the picture. Because vitamin D is able to counteract the soporific effect of the tuberculosis bacteria by making the immune cells produce more of the cathelicidin toxin. “Cathelicidin is like a microscopic needle that is able to pierce the tuberculosis bacteria. And when it does, it weakens the bacteria’s soporific effect on the immune cells. This restores the immune cells’ ability to kill tuberculosis bacteria,” says Martin Kongsbak-Wismann and adds: “We were amazed by the effect of vitamin D. In immune cells from healthy control subjects, vitamin D improved the cells’ ability to fight Mtb, whereas in the female patient’s immune cells we saw no response to vitamin D. This shows that vitamin D is key to the immune system’s ability to fight Mtb and prevent tuberculosis.” Al-Jaberi, F.A.H., et al. (2022) Reduced vitamin D-induced cathelicidin production and killing of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in macrophages from a patient with a non-functional vitamin D receptor: A case report. Frontiers in Immunology. doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2022.1038960.

The pKa for an amino acid is an acid dissociation constant that refers to the equilibrium between the protonated and deprotonated forms of the backbone amino group, backbone carboxyl group, and any potential acid/base component of the variable group. The net charge of the protein is determined by summing the charge of individual amino acids across the protein. pKa relates to the equilibrium constant and defines the transition between two structural forms of an amino acid–protonated and deprotonated. Amino acids possess distinct pKas for the carbonyl group, amino group, and any functional groups on the side chain that may be protonated or deprotonated. There is always one more structure than the number of pKa values for amino acids. For example, if there were two pKa values, three structures can be discerned. This is illustrated below using glycine, which has two pKa values – pKa 1 represents the (de)protonation of the carboxyl group and pKa2 represents the (de)protonation of the amine group: When the pH< pKa protonation of the amino and carboxyl groups occurs, resulting in a net +1 positive charge for glycine. When the pH is increased to a value between the two pKas(pKa2>pH> pKa1), the carboxyl group is deprotonated while the amino group remains protonated. This represents the zwitterionic form of the amino acid as it simultaneously possesses a positive and negative charge. When the pH> pKa2, the amino group is deprotonated and loses its charge. The amino acid now carries a net negative charge of -1. The zwitterionic form of the amino acid can exist at any pH value between pKa1 and pKa2.

A CAR (Chimeric Antigen Receptor) is a genetically engineered receptor that combines the antigen-binding ability of an antibody with T-cell activation capabilities. The CAR structure comprises four main components:

Food-derived proteins are broken down during digestion releasing amino acids which are then used by the body to create proteins required by bodily organs, tissues, and cells. The body can code for 20 different types of amino acids. However, some amino acids are considered to be essential whereby they cannot be synthesized in large enough quantities by the body. Therefore, they must be consumed as part of a balanced diet. Non-essential amino acids are produced by the body. There are nine types of essential amino acids: phenylalanine, histidine, threonine, isoleucine, leucine, tryptophan, lysine, valine, and methionine. Of the nine essential amino acids, leucine, valine, and isoleucine are referred to as branched-chain amino acids. Generally, all three BCAAs act as a substrate to produce protein and energy. Leucine plays an additional role as an intercellular signaling regulator for the mechanisms of protein production. Typically, BCAAs are found in foods rich in proteins such as eggs, fish, red meat, dairy and chicken as well as soy proteins, nuts, and lentils. Research has found that as the production of protein is continuous, there is a need to replace lost protein. This need for continued protein intake has increased the popularity of BCAA supplements. For example, the inclusion of BCAA supplements into the diets of bodybuilders, athletes, and gym-goers has increased due to their proposed muscle-building benefits and ability to enhance performance.

You're average biomedical researcher is dealing with a huge amount of new information every day. You're getting over 10,000 new publications uploaded on a daily basis worldwide across all the biomedical journals and databases, so there is no way that one researcher can actually even access, let alone read all these huge amounts of data. What we have to do is use deep learning to be able to help us ingest all that data and do some initial deep triage of that data to surface new therapeutic opportunities. It’s meant to provide insight for our biologists and chemists, so they can actually deal with a usable amount of information.