Antihistamine response: a dynamically refined function at the host-tick interface.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Ticks counteract host inflammatory responses by secreting proteins from their saliva that compete for histamine binding. Among these tick salivary proteins are lipocalins, antiparallel beta-barrel proteins that sequester small molecules. A tick salivary lipocalin has been structurally resolved and experimentally shown to efficiently compete for histamine with its native receptor (e.g., H1 histamine receptor). To date, molecular dynamics simulations focus on protein-protein and protein-ligand interactions, but there are currently no studies for simultaneous ligand exploration between two competing proteins.

Methods

Aided by state-of-the-art, high-throughput computational methods, the current study simulated and analyzed the dynamics of competitive histamine binding

SUBMITTER: Valdes JJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4226919 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature