Advances in Ricin and Shiga Toxin Inhibitors
A special issue of Toxins (ISSN 2072-6651). This special issue belongs to the section "Plant Toxins".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 November 2024 | Viewed by 84
Special Issue Editors
Interests: ricin and Shiga toxin ribosome interactions; small molecule and peptide inhibitors; fragment-based drug discovery
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: drug discovery and development in CNS; oncology; infectious diseases; allergy inflammation and metabolic diseases
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Ricin, produced by castor beans, is a worldwide problem as a biothreat agent due to its accessibility, stability, and extreme toxicity and is classified as a category-B agent for bioterrorism. Shiga toxins are the primary virulence factors of E. coli (STEC), they are potentially fatal, foodborne pathogens responsible for the development of hemorrhagic colitis (HC) and hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS). Ricin and Shiga toxins are type II ribosome inactivating proteins (RIPs) with identical mechanisms of action. The active (A) subunits catalyze the removal of the same adenine base from the sarcin/ricin loop of the large rRNA, thereby inhibiting protein synthesis. Despite more than three decades of research it has been extremely challenging to identify small molecules effective at preventing and/or treating ricin intoxication or STEC infection. Assays to measure their catalytic activity are critical for diagnosis, detection, and for the evaluation of inhibitor efficacy. Recent reports indicate novel approaches and promising avenues in the search for ricin and Shiga toxin inhibitors and this Special Issue aims to highlight these new developments, including small molecules, peptides, antibodies as potential antidotes against ricin and Shiga toxins and new assays to measure their catalytic activity. It will showcase the latest research and tools that will aid in inhibitor development and will advance our understanding of the mechanism of cytotoxicity of RIPs.
Dr. Nilgun E. Tumer
Dr. Jacques Y. Roberge
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Toxins is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- ricin
- Shiga toxin
- E. coli
- ribosome inactivating protein
- inhibitor development
- small molecule
- peptide
- antibody
- assay development
