Novel benzoxazole inhibitors of mPGES-1.

A novel series of potent benzoxazole mPGES-1 inhibitors has been derived from a hit from a high throughput screen. Compound 37 displays mPGES-1 inhibition in an enzyme assay (0.018 μM) and PGE-2 inhibition in a cell-based assay (0.

High-throughput, cell-free, liposome-based approach for assessing in vitro activity of lipid kinases.

Lipid kinases are central players in lipid signaling pathways involved in inflammation, tumorigenesis, and metabolic syndrome. A number of these kinase targets have proven difficult to investigate in higher throughput cell-free assay systems. This challenge is partially due to specific substrate interaction requirements for several of the lipid kinase family members and the resulting incompatibility of these substrates with most established, homogeneous assay formats.

Chemokine receptor expression in the human ectocervix: implications for infection by the human immunodeficiency virus-type I.

Human immunodeficiency virus-type 1 (HIV-1) is a sexually transmitted pathogen that can infect cells in the female reproductive tract (FRT). The mechanism of viral transmission within the FRT and the mode of viral spread to the periphery are not well understood. To characterize the frequency of potential targets of HIV infection within the FRT, we performed a systematic study of the expression of HIV receptors (CD4, galactosyl ceramide (GalCer)) and coreceptors (CXCR4 and CCR5) on epithelial cells and leucocytes from the ectocervix.