简介：Heterogeneousnuclearribonucleoproteins(hnRNPs)arespliceosomalmacromolecularassemblagesandthusactivelyparticipateinpre-mRNAmetabolism.Theyarecomposedofevolutionarilyconservedandtandemlyrepeatedmotifs,wherebothRNA-bindingandprotein-proteinrecognitionoccurtoachievecellularactivities.Byyetunknownmechanisms,theseribonucleoprotein(RNP)particlesaretargetedbyautoantibodiesandhenceplaysignificantroleinavarietyofhumansystemicautoimmunediseases.Thisfeaturemakesthemimportantprognosticmarkersintermsofmolecularepidemiologyandpathogenesisofautoimmunity.SinceRNPdomainisoneofthemostconservedandwidespreadscaffolds,evolutionalysesoftheseRNA-bindingdomainscanprovidefurthercluesondisease-specificepitopeformation.ThestudypresentedhereinrepresentsasequencecomparisonofRNA-recognitionregionsofrecentlyclonedandcharacterizedhumanhnRNPA3withthoseofotherrelevanthnRNPA/B-typeproteins.Theirimplicationsinhumanautoimmunityareparticularlyemphasized.

简介：Humantumornecrosisfactorα(hTNFα),apleiotropiccytokinewithactivitiesrangingfromhostdefensemechanismsininfectionandinjurytoseveretoxicityinsepticshockorotherrelateddiseases,isapromisingtargetfordrugscreening.UsingtheSELEX(systematicevolutionofligandsbyexponentialenrichment)process,weisolatedoligonucleotideligands(aptamers)withhighaffinitiesforhTNFα.Aptamerswereselectedfromastartingpoolof40randomizedsequencescomposedofabout1015RNAmolecules.RepresentativeaptamersweretruncatedtotheminimallengthwithhighaffinityforhTNFαandwerefurthermodifiedbyreplacementof2'-OHwith2'-Fand2'-NH2atallribopurinepositions.ThesemodifiedRNAaptamerswereresistanttonuclease.ThespecificityoftheseaptamersforhTNFαwasconfirmed,andtheiractivitytoinhibitthecytotoxicityofhTNFαonmouseL929cellswasdetermined.Resultsdemonstratedthatfour2'-NH2-modifiedaptamersboundtohTNFαwithhighaffinityandblockedthebindingofhTNFαtoitsreceptor,thusprotectingtheL929cellsfromthecytotoxicityofhTNFα.OligonucleotideaptamersdescribedherearepotentialtherapeuticsanddiagnosticsforhTNFc-relateddiseases.