Whilst I was looking through the Scripps website …
New Screening Technique from Scripps Research Institute Yields Elusive Compounds to Block Immune-Regulating Enzyme
http://www.scripps.edu/news/press/2012/20120510mowen.html
“Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute have found the first chemical compounds that act to block an enzyme that has been linked to inflammatory conditions such as asthma and arthritis, as well as some inflammation-promoted cancers.
The new study, published recently by the journal ACS Chemical Biology, describes new compounds that inhibit an important enzyme called PRMT1 (protein arginine methyltransferase 1). The new inhibitors will be useful to scientists who study PRMT1-related biological pathways in cells and who are developing drug treatments for PRMT1-related inflammatory conditions and cancers.”
“…the study’s principal investigator Scripps Research Assistant Professor Kerri A. Mowen.
Mowen has been studying PRMT1 since her graduate school days, and, like others in the field, has been acutely aware of the need for selective PRMT1 inhibitors. The enzyme modifies the functionality of proteins by attaching a methyl group to their arginine amino acids; as such, it is involved in some of the most basic processes in cells. For example, Mowen and her colleagues showed in 2004 that PRMT1 helps drive the production of the key immune-stimulating proteins interferon-gamma and interleukin-4.”
asdresearchinitiative 