Part of the book: Environmental Impact of Biofuels
Part of the book: Biodiesel
The term proteoform is used to denote all the molecular forms in which the protein product of a single gene can be found. The most frequent processes that lead to transcript modification and the biological implications of these changes observed in the final protein product will be discussed. Proteoforms arising from genetic variations, alternatively spliced RNA transcripts and post-translational modifications will be commented. This chapter will present an evolution of the techniques used to identify the proteoforms and the importance of this identification for understanding of biological processes. This chapter highlights the fundamental concepts in the field of top-down mass spectrometry (TDMS), and provides numerous examples for the use of knowledge obtained from the identification of proteoforms. The identification of mutant proteins is one of the emerging areas of proteogenomics and has the potential to recognize novel disease biomarkers and may point to useful targets for identification of therapeutic approaches.
Part of the book: Proteoforms
Immunotherapy is a treatment for patients with type I-mediated allergic diseases. Molecular forms of allergen-specific immunotherapy (AIT), based on inducing immunological tolerance characterized by increased IL-10, TGF-β, and IgG4 levels, and Treg cell are continuously emerging to improve the efficacy of the treatment, shorten the duration of protocols, and prevent any side effects. This review covers the recent progress in AIT and routes of antigen administration. Classical immunotherapy uses allergen extracts obtained from natural sources. Limitations of the uses of these extracts, such as sensitizations with nonspecific agents, can be avoided using purified components, hypoallergenic recombinant proteins, and vaccines based on peptides (epitopes). However, these molecules have low immunogenicity requiring new carriers or more effective adjuvants. Vaccines based on carrier-bound B-cell epitope-containing peptides and the constructions of allergens coupled to virus-like particles (VLPs) are under evaluation. The possibility of vaccinating with DNA encoding the allergen to obtain an allergen-specific Th1 and IgG response is in development and the success of messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) vaccines against severe acute respiratory syndrome Coronavirus 2 must encourage as well the re-exploration of mRNA vaccine platform for innovative AIT.
Part of the book: Allergic Disease