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The average person wants to live a healthy, active life.  We learned about vitamins, cholesterol, exercise and more, but what about Peptides?

What they are

Peptides are short polymers formed from the linking, in a defined order, of α-amino acids. The link between one amino acid residue and the next is known as an amide bond or a peptide bond.  To the average person this means very little, until you realize that peptides can play a big part in keeping us healthy.  All proteins are peptides but not all peptides are proteins

The importance of peptides

Peptides have been found to help improve the immune system, lower blood pressure, improve our aging skin, help reduce the risk of developing Alzheimer’s Disease, help in the maintenance of micro vascular function, control appetites, help reduce cholesterol, and may help in the fight against cancer.  There is also an emerging study that shows how newly developed peptides can be more effective in blocking HIV's entry into cells than other drugs in their class.  Some hormones also consists of peptides. These hormones are known to regulate functions such as sleep and sugar concentration. For more on this, see the article below

Peptide Sources 

Because proteins contain peptides, peptides can be found in many of the products that we eat or drink.  For example, soy protein products contain peptides that are believed to help in the fight against breast cancer, lower blood pressure and help reduce cholesterol. Peptides are found in proteins, including dairy products, and much more.  Scientists are now working to create new peptides to prevent or combat diseases and help us lead healthier lives.​

Potent Peptides Inhibit HIV Entry Into Cells
Protein analysis at Brookhaven's light source helps researchers in design of new AIDS drugs
​October 8, 2007

My Experience​

UPTON, NY - Based in part on protein structures determined at the National Synchrotron Light Source (NSLS) at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory, scientists at the University of Utah have developed new peptides that appear to be significantly more effective at blocking HIV's entry into cells than other drugs in their class. In a paper being published online by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences the week of October 8, 2007, the researchers say these peptides are sufficiently potent to begin pre-clinical studies as a new class of agents for the prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS. 
The researchers were particularly interested in developing drugs to bind to an essential "pocket" structure found in all HIV strains that was previously identified as a promising drug target using structures determined at Brookhaven's NSLS. Numerous previous attempts to target this pocket failed to produce potent and non-toxic pocket-specific entry inhibitors. In the current work, the researchers used a high-throughput technique to screen a "library" containing hundreds of millions of peptides to identify the rare peptides that would bind to the pocket structure and inhibit HIV entry.
This structure-assisted design led to the discovery of D-peptides with up to a 40,000-fold improved antiviral potency over previously reported D-peptides. The structures also suggest ways to engineer the peptides to reduce the chance of drug resistance.
2007-693  |  Media & Communications Office
Source:  www.bnl.gov/newsroom/news.php?a=1693
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