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Biomedical subjects

K Ramnarayan

Publications and source records attributed to K Ramnarayan.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

Antibody humanization predicted by computer graphic analysis.

Humanized antibodies continue to be evaluated in clinical trials, and each trial will yield valuable information for the design of the next generation of humanized antibodies. More attention will be given to the use of antibody fragments and the selection of human antibody specificities from phage libraries for human antibody therapeutics. Computer graphic analysis and molecular modeling of antibody structures will continue to be invaluable for predicting structural modifications for humanization of antibodies and for extracting structural information from antigen binding sites that can ultimately lead to small molecule therapeutics.

Animals↗

Accessing three-dimensional chemical information in antibody molecules.

Important structural information can be obtained from monoclonal antibodies through X-ray crystallographic analysis and computer modeling of CDR loops. These applications of monoclonal antibody technology offer new insights and novel approaches to the modification of antibody molecules for disease treatment, diagnosis, and drug design.

Antibodies, Monoclonal↗

Identification of an extracytoplasmic region of H+,K(+)-ATPase labeled by a K(+)-competitive photoaffinity inhibitor.

The photoaffinity reagent 8-[(4-azidophenyl)-methoxy]-1-tritiomethyl-2, 3-dimethylimidazo-[1,2-alpha]pyridinium iodide ([3H]mDAZIP) has been synthesized and used to photoinactivate and label purified hog gastric H+,K(+)-ATPase. The specific (K(+)-sensitive) components of both photoinactivation and labeling showed dependences on inhibitor concentration consistent with covalent modification at an extracytoplasmic site of reversible K(+)-competitive binding in the dark. The maximum amount of specific labeling (1.2 nmol/mg) was similar to the number of phosphorylation sites measured (1.0 +/- 0.14 nmol/mg). Specific labeling was distributed 76% on the alpha chain, 18% on the beta chain, and 6% on undefined peptides. Various digestions with trypsin, protease V8, and thermolysin were employed to fragment the labeled enzyme. Gasphase sequencing of the radioactive peptides identified the major site of specific labeling to be within a region where only two stretches of amino acids (Leu105 to Ile126 and Leu139 to Phe155, designated H1 and H2, respectively) are predicted to span the membrane. This in turn suggested that the labeling site was located within or close to the proposed loop between them (Gln127 to Asn138). A computer-driven energy minimization protocol yielded a loop structure to which SCH 28080 (the parent structure of [3H]mDAZIP) could be docked. Conversely, modeling of the corresponding region of Na+,K(+)-ATPase (a homologous enzyme with much lower affinity for SCH 28080) yielded no apparent binding site. Similarities in the inhibition of H+,K(+)-ATPase by SCH 28080 and of Na+,K(+)-ATPase by ouabain lead to the hypothesis that, in each case, inhibitor binding to E2-P is associated with an increase in the hydrophobicity of the environment of the loop between H1 and H2.

Adenosine Triphosphatases↗

Peripheral ameloblastoma.

The clinical presentation and histological features of peripheral ameloblastoma, occurring on the floor of the mouth in a 65-year-old male, are described. The lesion was surgically excised. All the classical features of peripheral ameloblastoma were seen in this patient.

Aged↗

A case of histoplasma posthitis.

The present report describes a case of disseminated histoplasmosis with involvement of the prepuce. Phimosis resulting from histoplasma posthitis is exceedingly rare and hence being documented.

Adult↗

Toward designing drug-like libraries: a novel computational approach for prediction of drug feasibility of compounds.

Prediction of the degree of drug-like character in small molecules is of great industrial interest. The major barrier, however, is the lack of a definition for drug-like character. We used the concept of the multilevel chemical compatibility (MLCC) between a compound and a drug library as a measure of the drug-like character of a compound. The rationale is that the local chemical environment of each atom or group of atoms in a compound largely contributes to the stability, toxicity, and metabolism in vivo. A systematic comparison of the local environments within a compound and those within the existing drugs provides a basis for determining whether and how much a compound is drug-like. We applied the MLCC calculations to four test sets: top selling drugs, compounds under biological testing prior to the preclinical test, anticancer drugs, and compounds known to have poor drug-like character. The following conclusions were obtained: (1) A convergent number of unique local structure types were found in the analysis of the library of the existing drugs. It suggests that the current drug library contains about 80% of all the viable types; therefore, discovery of a drug with new local structures is only an event of relatively small probability. (2) The method is highly selective in discerning drug-like compounds: most of the top drugs are predicted to be drug-like, about one-quarter of the biological testing compounds are drug-like, and about one-fifth of the anticancer drugs are drug-like. (3) The method also correctly predicted that none of the known problematic compounds are drug-like. (4) The method is fast enough for computational screening of virtual combinatorial chemistry libraries and databases of available compounds.

Combinatorial Chemistry Techniques↗