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Centro NANO_MATES 		nanologo
Reconstruction of membrane rafts to develop targeted drugs Versione italiana
http://www.unisa.it//Facolta/Farmacia/Area_Didattica/Biochimica/maresca/frontpage.php?cms=yes
 
Membrane raft view atomic force microscope.
Membrane raft view atomic force microscope.		 Bruno Maresca
Amalia Porta

 Dipartimento di
Scienze Farmaceutiche

Bio-nanotechs utilize cellular components in artificial systems to study in situ lipids and proteins assembled in artificial vesicles to identify highly specific drugs (e.g. anti-infectives). Membrane proteins are confined within a specific membrane phospholipid domain (rafts). We showed that in vivo expression of specific membrane spanning regions alters the membrane physical state and patterns of gene expression. Using this methodology we set up a new procedure to develop antimicrobials and a novel class of vaccines (patents dep.). Sixty per cent of all new generation drugs utilize 2-component systems as targets for drug development. We are presently using Salmonella PhoP/PhoQ system that includes the sensor PhoP and the regulator PhoQ within reconstituted artificial membrane vesicles. When intracellular pathogens, such as Salmonella, are attacked by the host immune response, such 2-component system is activated and induces the transcriptional activation of virulence genes. Our system is based on the in vitro reconstruction of PhoP/PhoQ in vesicle as target to develop a new class of specific anti-infectives.

László Vigh, Ibolya Horváth, Bruno Maresca and John Harwood " Can the stress protein response be controlled by 'membrane-lipid therapy'?", Trends in Biochemical Sciences 32: 357-363, 2007

Vigh, L, Escriba, P, Sonnleitner, A, Sonnleitner, M, Piotto, Maresca, B, Horváth, I, Harwood, JL "The significance of lipid composition for membrane activity: new concepts and ways of assessing function", Progress Lipid Research, 44:303-44, 2005

L. Vigh, P. Literati, I. Horvath, Z. Török, G. Balogh, A. Glatz, E. Kovacs, I. Boros, P. Ferdinandy, B. Farkas, L. Jaszlits, A. Jednakovits, L. Korany, , and B. Maresca "Bimoclomol: a novel, non-toxic, hydroxylamine derivative with stress protein inducing activity and wide cytopretective effects" Nature-Medicine, 3: 1150-1154, 1997


Last modified 2008-05-26