toxic in excess, in balance by sensing how much
NO is present and turning genes on and off to keep NO in equilibrium. If
this equilibrium is upset, Stamler theorizes, it may lead to a number of
diseases that have recently been associated with NO, including cancer, stroke,
hardening of heart arteries, infectious disease, and arthritis.
The scientists say that an immediate application from the research may
be a new way to disarm invasive bacteria that have become resistant to antibiotics
-- a major problem in the treatment of infections, especially in hospital
settings.
Other contributors to the work include Alfred Hausladen, a Duke biochemist,
and Christopher Privalle and Teresa Keng, two former Duke researchers who
are now scientists at Apex Bioscience Inc., Research Triangle Park, N.C.
Joseph DeAngelo, director of research at Apex, also collaborated on the
project.
This is the second recent discovery Stamler has made in NO research. Earlier
this year, he found that an NO compound, combined with hemoglobin, is a
major regulator of gas exchange, as well as blood pressure, in the circulatory
system. That work was published March 21 in the British journal Nature.
The current discovery was made when the researchers were studying why some
bacteria escape attack by immune system cells called macrophages, which
are designed to disable and devour them. The question is of increasing importance
in acute health care.
When bacteria invade the body, the immune system floods the bacterial
cell with noxious oxygen and nitrogen-free radicals.
The researchers found that when NO enters a bacterium, the NO attaches
to a particular place on proteins called a thiol, a protein subunit that
contains sulfur. The NO-thiol coupling forms a new NO-compound called SNO
(for S-nitrosothiol). SNOs are souped-up cousins of
'"/>Contact: Karyn Hede George
georg016@mc.duke.edu
919-660-1301
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