Recent Advances in Transthyretin Evolution, Structure and Biological Functions

Hardcover, xiii + 360 pages, NOT ex-library. Not an economy/Indian edition. Mildly used, clean and bright throughout with unmarked text, free of inscriptions and stamps, firmly bound. Published without a dust jacket. -- Since its first description in 1942 in both serum and cerebrospinal fluid, transthyretin (TTR) has had an eventful history, including changes in name from 'prealbumin' to 'thyroxine-binding prealbumin' to 'transthyretin' as knowledge increased about its functions. TTR is synthesised in a wide range of tissues in humans and other eutherian mammals: the liver, choroid plexus (blood- cerebrospinal fluid barrier), retinal pigment epithelium of the eye, pancreas, intestine and meninges. However, its sites of synthesis are more restricted in other vertebrates. This implies that the number of tissues synthesising TTR during vertebrate evolution has increased, and raises questions about the selection pressures governing TTR synthesis. TTR is most widely known as a distributor of thyroid hormones. In addition, TTR binds retinol-binding protein, which binds retinol. In this way, TTR is also involved with retinoid distribution. More recently, TTR has been demonstrated to bind a wide variety of endocrine disruptors including drugs, pollutants, industrial compounds, heavy metals, and some naturally occurring plant flavonoids. These not only interfere with thyroid hormone delivery in the body, but also transport such endocrine disruptors into the brain, where they have the potential to accumulate. -- Contents: 1 Mechanisms of Molecular Recognition: Structural Characteristics of Transthyretin Ligand Interactions / Vivian Cody & Andrzej Wojtczak; 2 Transthyretin Synthesis During Development and Evolution: What the Marsupials Revealed / Samantha J. Richardson; 3 Evolution of Transthyretin Gene Structure / Porntip Prapunpoj; 4 Evolutionary Insights from Fish Transthyretin / Deborah M. Power; 5 Salmonella sp. TLP: A Periplasmic 5-Hydroxyisourate Hydrolase / Sarah Hennebry; 6 Vertebrate 5-Hydroxyisourate Hydrolase Identification, Function, Structure, and Evolutionary Relationship with Transthyretin / Giuseppe Zanotti; 7 Transthyretin-Related and Transthyretin-like Proteins / A. Elisabeth Sauer-Eriksson; 8 Transthyretin-Retinol-Binding Protein Complex / Hugo L. Monaco; 9 Transthyretin and Retinol-Binding Protein: Implications in Fish Physiology / Sancia Gaetani & Diana Bellovino; 10 Transthyretin and Endocrine Disruptors / Kiyoshi Yamauchi & Akinori Ishihara; 11 Genetics: Clinical Implications of Transthyretin Amyloidosis / Merrill D. Benson; 12 Molecular Pathogenesis Associated with Familial Amyloidotic Polyneuropathy / Maria Joào Saraiva; 13 Histidine 31: The Achilles' Heel of Human Transthyretin. Microheterogeneity is Not Enough to Understand the Molecular Causes of Amyloidogenicity / Klaus Altland & Samantha J. Richardson; 14 New Therapeutic Approaches for Familial Amyloidotic Polyneuropathy (FAP) / Yukio Ando; 15 Liver Transplantation for Transthyretin Amyloidosis / Bo-Goran Ericzon; 16 Mouse Models of Transthyretin Amyloidosis / Sadahiro Itoand Shuichiro Maeda; 17 What Have We Learned from Transthyretin-Null Mice: Novel Functions for Transthyretin? / Joâo Carlos Sousa & Joana Almeida Palha; 18 Transthyretin Null Mice: Developmental Phenotypes / Julie A. Monk & Samantha J. Richardson; 19 Transthyretin Null Mice as a Model to Study the Involvement of Transthyretin in Neurobiology: From Neuropeptide Processing to Nerve Regeneration / Carolina Estima Fleming; 20 Plasma Transthyretin Reflects the Fluctuations of Lean Body Mass in Health and Disease / Yves Ingenbleek; Index.