Ethan W Taylor

**Education: B.Sc. (Chemistry), University of Winnipeg , 1981--Ph.D. (Pharmacology), University of Arizona , 1985--NIH Postdoc (Medicinal Chemistry), University of Arizona, 1986-1987 **Expertise: Medicinal, Computational, and Bioorganic Chemistry

There are 41 included publications by Ethan W Taylor :

TitleDateViewsBrief Description
A -1 frameshift in the HIV-1 env gene is enhanced by arginine deficiency via a hungry codon mechanism 2005 1009 Ribosomal frameshifting is used by various organisms to maximize protein coding potential of genomic sequences. It is commonly exploited by RNA viruses to overcome the constraint of their limited genome size. Frameshifting requires specific RNA struc...
Anti-apoptotic activity of the glutathione peroxidase homologue encoded by HIV-1 2004 225 The third reading frame of the envelope gene from HIV-1 codes for a protein homologous to the human selenoprotein glutathione peroxidase (GPX). Cells stably or transiently transfected with a HIV-1 GPX construct are protected against the loss of the m...
Anti-SPARC Oligopeptide Inhibits Laser-Induced CNV in Mice 2010 1227 It is known that SPARC gates VEGF-A signal transduction towards KDR, the primary angiogenic VEGF receptor. We sought to determine whether inhibition of SPARC activity using anti-SPARC peptide could inhibit laser-induced CNV by promoting binding of VE...
Antisense inhibition of selenoprotein synthesis by Zika virus may contribute to neurological disorders and microcephaly by mimicking SePP1 knockout and the genetic disease PCCA 2016 239 Objective: Selenium status plays a major role in health impacts of various RNA viruses. We recently reported potential antisense interactions between viral mRNAs and host mRNAs of the antioxidant selenoprotein thioredoxin reductase (TR). Here, we exa...
Association between regional selenium status and reported outcome of COVID-19 cases in China 2020 253 Potentially relevant to the recent appearance of COVID-19 in China is the fact that there is a belt of selenium deficiency running from northeast to southwest in the country and, indeed, China has populations that have both the lowest and the highest...
Computational genomic analysis of hemorrhagic fever viruses: Viral selenoproteins as a potential factor in pathogenesis 1997 200 A number of distinct viruses are known as hemorrhagic fever viruses based on a shared ability to induce hemorrhage by poorly understood mechanisms, typically involving the formation of blood clots (“disseminated intravascular coagulation”). It is wel...
Can tobacco use promote HCV-induced miR-122 hijacking and hepatocarcinogenesis? 2013 1165 Chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is a well-recognized risk factor for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). As a co-risk factor, the role of tobacco use in HCV-driven carcinogenesis and relevant underlying mechanisms remain largely unclear. The la...
Detecting DNA Depurination with Solid-State Nanopores 2014 903 Among the different types of DNA damage that occur endogenously in the cell, depurination is especially prevalent. These lesions can initiate mutagenesis and have been implicated in a variety of diseases, including cancer. Here, we demonstrate a new ...
Diminished serum repetin levels in patients with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder 2015 255 Repetin (RPTN) protein is a member of S100 family and is known to be expressed in the normal epidermis. Here we show that RPTN is ubiquitously expressed in both mouse and human brain, with relatively high levels in choroid plexus, hippocampus and pre...
Further insight into the impact of sodium selenite on selenoenzymes: High-dose selenite enhances hepatic thioredoxin reductase 1 activity as a consequence of liver injury 2008 1082 Selenium (Se) at supranutritional levels can enhance the activity of glutathione S-transferase (GST), whose gene is a target of nuclear factor erythroid-2 related factor 2 (Nrf2). Recent studies indicated that the thioredoxin reductase 1 (TrxR1) gene...
Genomic structures of viral agents in relation to the biosynthesis of selenoproteins 1997 1027 The genomes of both bacteria and eukaryotic organisms are known to encode selenoproteins, using the UGA codon for selenocysteine (SeC), and a complex cotranslational mechanism for SeC incorporation into polypeptide chains, involving RNA stem-loop str...
Hepatitis C virus encodes a selenium-dependent glutathione peroxidase gene. Implications for oxidative stress as a risk factor in progression to hepatocellular carcinoma 1999 209 Aim: Using structural bioinformatics methods, the aim is to assess the hypothesis that hepatitis C virus (HCV) encodes a glutathione peroxidase (GPx) gene in an overlapping reading frame, linking HCV expression and pathogenesis to the Se status and d...
An HIV-1 encoded peptide mimics the DNA binding loop of NF-?B and binds thioredoxin with high affinity 2005 210 Pro-fs is a human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-l)-encoded putative selenoprotein, predicted by a theoretical analysis of the viral genome; it is potentially expressed by a -1 frameshift from the protease coding region. Pro-fs has significant se...
Impact of heat treatment on size, structure, and bioactivity of elemental selenium nanoparticles 2012 2879 Background: Elemental selenium nanoparticles have emerged as a novel selenium source with the advantage of reduced risk of selenium toxicity. The present work investigated whether heat treatment affects the size, structure, and bioactivity of seleniu...
The influence of traditional herbal formulas on cytokine activity 2010 1087 Many of the botanical “immunomodulators”, a class of herbal medicines widely recognized in traditional medical systems such as Chinese Medicine (TCM) and Ayurvedic Medicine, alter immune function and may offer clinically relevant therapeutics or lead...
Inhibition of glutathione synthesis eliminates the adaptive response of ascitic hepatoma 22 cells to nedaplatin that targets thioredoxin reductase 2012 242 Thioredoxin reductase (TrxR) is a target for cancer therapy and the anticancer mechanism of cisplatin involves TrxR inhibition. We hypothesize that the anticancer drug nedaplatin (NDP), an analogue of cisplatin and a second-generation platinum comple...
Inhibition of TNF-a induced ICAM-1, VCAM-1 and E-selectin expression by selenium 2002 241 The initiation of an atherosclerotic lesion involves an endothelial cell pro-inflammatory state that recruits leukocytes and promotes their movement across the endothelium. These processes require endothelial expression of intercellular adhesion mole...
Interpreting the Conductance Blockades of DNA Translocations Through Solid-State Nanopores 2014 312 Solid-state nanopore electrical signatures can be convoluted and are thus challenging to interpret. In order to better understand the origin of these conductance changes, we investigate the translocation of DNA through small, thin pores over a range ...
Mechanisms and genes involved in enhancement of HIV infectivity by tobacco smoke 2010 1011 HIV infection is more common among smokers than nonsmokers, and, remarkably, HIV-infected individuals are about 3 times more likely to smoke than the uninfected general population. However, the relationship between tobacco smoking and HIV/AIDS diseas...
Molecular docking and analysis of interactions between vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and SPARC protein 2007 1352 The extracellular module of SPARC/osteonectin binds to vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and inhibits VEGF-stimulated proliferation of endothelial cells. In an attempt to identify the binding site for SPARC on VEGF, we hypothesized that this ...
Molecular modeling and in vitro activity of an HIV-1-encoded glutathione peroxidase 2000 934 Based on theoretical evidence, it has been proposed that HIV-1 may encode several selenoprotein modules, one of which (overlapping the env gp41-coding region) has highly significant sequence similarity to the mammalian selenoprotein glutathione perox...
Molecular modeling of the oxidized form of nuclear factor-?B suggests a mechanism for redox regulation of DNA binding and transcriptional activation 2008 199 NF-?B is an important transcriptional regulator of numerous cellular genes, as well as viruses such as HIV-1. Oxidative stimuli in the cytosol are associated with nuclear translocation of NF-?B, whereas in the nucleus, reductive activation by thiored...
Nanopore Analysis of Single-Stranded Binding Protein Interactions with DNA 2015 1337 We study the binding of E. coli single-stranded binding protein (SSB) to single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) using a solid-state nanopore assay. We find that saturated nucleoprotein complexes can be distinguished easily from free SSB, ssDNA, or double-strand...
Nutrition, HIV, and Drug Abuse: The Molecular Basis of a Unique Role for Selenium 2000 1234 HIV-infected injection drug users (IDUs) often suffer from serious nutritional deficiencies. This is a concern because plasma levels of micronutrients such as vitamin B12, zinc, and selenium have been correlated with mortality risk in HIV-positive po...
The oxidative stress-induced niacin sink (OSINS) model for HIV pathogenesis 2010 1473 Although several specific micronutrient deficiencies are associated with disease progression and increased mortality risk in HIV/AIDS, and even a simple multivitamin/mineral supplement can prolong survival, this is typically viewed merely as nutritio...
Reply to LA Seale et al. 2020 179 We were very pleased that our finding of an association between coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outcome in China and selenium status (1) was endorsed by Seale and colleagues, based on their understanding of the likely mechanism by which severe ac...
Retroviruses, Ascorbate, and Mutations, in the Evolution of Homo sapiens 1998 1115 Mutations, induced by free radicals, provide a rich molecular palette that other evolutionary forces can select for or against. A recent hypothesis proposed that large numbers of free radicals were produced when, millions of years ago, Anthropoidea l...
Role for PPAR-gamma in IL-2 inhibition in T cells by Echinacea-derived undeca-2E-ene-8,10-diynoic acid isobutylamide 2009 279 Certain fatty acid amides from Echinacea spp. have demonstrated moderate to high cannabinoid activity. As a result, CB2 activation is currently hypothesized to be the basis of activity for immunomodulation by Echinacea spp. PPAR-gamma, an orphan nucl...
Selective Detection and Quantification of Modified DNA with Solid-State Nanopores 2014 210 We demonstrate a solid-state nanopore assay for the unambiguous discrimination and quantification of modified DNA. Individual streptavidin proteins are employed as high-affinity tags for DNA containing a single biotin moiety. We establish that the ra...
Selenium and cellular immunity. Evidence that selenoproteins may be encoded in the +1 reading frame overlapping the human CD4, CD8, and HLA-DR genes 1995 270 Selenium deficiency can lead to impaired immune function and reduced T-cell counts, as well as various specific disorders. Significantly, in ARC and AIDS patients, a progressive decline in plasma Se, paralleling T-cell loss, has been widely documente...
Selenium and selenoproteins in viral infection with potential relevance to COVID-19 2020 828 Selenium is a trace element essential to human health largely because of its incorporation into selenoproteins that have a wide range of protective functions. Selenium has an ongoing history of reducing the incidence and severity of various viral inf...
Selenium-dependent glutathione peroxidase modules encoded by RNA viruses 1999 1161 Glutathione peroxidase (GPx) is the prototypical eukaryotic selenoprotein, with the rare amino acid selenocysteine (Sec) at the enzyme active site, encoded by the UGA codon in RNA. A DNA virus, Molluscum contagiosum, has now been shown to encode a fu...
Sequence homology between bacteriorhodopsin and G-protein coupled receptors: exon shuffling or evolution by duplication? 1993 796 Bacteriorhodopsin (BR) is a membrane protein of known structure. widely used for the homology modeling of G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCR). The observation of apparently transposed sequence similarities between some of the helical domains of BR and...
Sequence- and Target-Independent Angiogenesis Suppression by siRNA via TLR3 2008 1584 Clinical trials of small interfering RNA (siRNA) targeting vascular endothelial growth factor-A (VEGFA) or its receptor VEGFR1 (also called FLT1), in patients with blinding choroidal neovascularization (CNV) from age-related macular degeneration, are...
Sequence-Specific Recognition of MicroRNAs and Other Short Nucleic Acids with Solid-State Nanopores 2016 1083 The detection and quantification of short nucleic acid sequences has many potential applications in studying biological processes, monitoring disease initiation and progression, and evaluating environmental systems, but is challenging by nature. We p...
Size effect of elemental selenium nanoparticles (Nano-Se) at supranutritional levels on selenium accumulation and glutathione S-transferase activity 2007 1303 It has been shown that 36 nm Nano-Se has lower toxicity than selenite or selenomethionine, but these forms of selenium (Se) all possess similar ability to increase selenoenzyme levels. The size of nanoparticles plays an important role in their biolog...
Solid-State Nanopore Analysis of Diverse DNA Base Modifications Using a Modular Enzymatic Labeling Process 2017 973 Many regulated epigenetic elements and base lesions found in genomic DNA can both directly impact gene expression and play a role in disease processes. However, due to their noncanonical nature, they are challenging to assess with conventional techno...
Structural Evaluation of Distant Homology. A 3-D Model of the Ligand Binding Domain of the Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptor Based on Acetylcholinesterase: Consistency with Experimental Data 1996 975 Acetylcholine is a ligand for both acetylcholinesterases and nicotinic acetylcholine receptors. Hence, at least some local sequence and structural similarities between the acetylcholinesterases and the receptors which recognize acetylcholine (ACh) mi...
Structure and dynamics of a predicted ferredoxin-like selenoprotein in Japanese encephalitis virus 2004 1066 Homologues of the selenoprotein glutathione peroxidase (GPx) have been previously identified in poxviruses and in RNA viruses including HIV-1 and hepatitis C virus (HCV). Sequence analysis of the NS4 region of Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) sugges...
Targeting specific cell signaling transduction pathways by dietary and medicinal phytochemicals in cancer chemoprevention 2010 256 Natural phytochemicals derived from dietary sources or medicinal plants have gained significant recognition in the potential management of several human clinical conditions. Much research has also been geared towards the evaluation of plant extracts ...
Understanding Selenium and Glutathione as Antiviral Factors in COVID-19: Does the Viral Mpro Protease Target Host Selenoproteins and Glutathione Synthesis? 2020 1293 Glutathione peroxidases (GPX), a family of antioxidant selenoenzymes, functionally link selenium and glutathione, which both show correlations with clinical outcomes in COVID-19. Thus, it is highly significant that cytosolic GPX1 has been shown to in...