Growth Factors and Receptors: A Practical Approach

About this book

Growth Factors and Receptors: A Practical Approach provides comprehensive protocols for studies of growth factors and their interactions with receptors. It covers a wide range from simple analytical techniques to sophisticated in vivo applications including: RT-PCR and immunocytochemistry for detection of growth factors and receptors; production and purification of recombinant growth factors and receptors; labelling of growth factors for binding studies; in vivo mutagenesis; the yeast two-hybrid assay of proteinprotein interactions; phage display of factors; application of factors to wound-healing processes using the gene gun; treatment of cancers with factor/toxin chimeras; and analysis of important factor domains using chimeric proteins. This book updates and extends the current literature and describes important novel approaches to the study of growth factors and their receptors, including the use of RNA aptamers as receptor antagonists, and the development of receptor superantagonists. It will be of tremendous value to both researchers and teachers, and, through an appendix that lists a large number of growth factors and receptors, will serve as a handy reference text.

Contents

1. Engineered growth factors and receptors, and their applications; 2. Engineering of novel neurotrophins; 3. Designing new agonists.antagonists of growth factor receptors - the rational design of a super-antagonist of the IL-6 receptor; 4. A Chimeric approach for studying receptor-binding domains in EGF-like molecules; 5. Structure-activity relationships of chemokines; 6. Generation and selection of RNA ligands that inhibit interaction of vascular permeability factor/vascular endothelial growth factor (VPF/VEGF) to its receptor; 7. Immunolocalisation and RT-PCR for detection and quantification of growth factor and gene expression; 8. Defining growth factor function through tissue-specific expression of dominant-negative receptor mutants; 9. Growth factor-toxin chimeras and their applications; 10. Gene therapy applications of growth factors; Appendix 1; Appendix 2; Appendix 3

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