The aim of this diploma thesis was association analysis of single nucleotide polymorphism of IGFBP-2 and MC4R genes in a selected group of Czech Large White pigs with indicators of pork quality. The surveyed traits were pH value, color of meat, electrical conductivity, drip loss, contents of intramuscular fat and fatty acids. The polymorphisms were detected by the PCR and RFLP procedures. The allele and genotype frequencies were calculated and results were statistically evaluated using SAS program. In the case of the IGFBP-2 gene was discovered, that the observed set of animals is marked out by the higher percentage of allele B (99,5 %), the relative frequency of the BB genotype was 99 %, AB 1 % and genotype AA has not been found. For this reason, an association analysis could not be performed. The MC4R gene showed a higher frequency of the G allele (74.52%), with the relative frequency of AA genotypes being 2.88%, AG 45.19% and GG 51.92%. On the basis of the association analysis, statistically significant differences were found in the content of the linoleic acid at significance level of P ≤ 0,05 between genotypes AG×GG and to the drip loss where was the difference between the genotypes AA×GG. No statistically significant differences were found for other meat quality indicators, not even value close to significant difference (P ≤ 0,1).

In den letzten Jahren wurde gezeigt, dass die Serumkonzentration des insulinähnlichen Wachstumsfaktorbindungsproteins-2 (IGFBP-2) bei Krebserkrankungen, die mit dem Verlust des Tumorsuppressorgens PTEN einhergehen, erhöht ist und daher möglicherweise einen Marker für den PTEN-Status und die Aktivität des PI3K/AKT/mTOR-Signalweges darstellt. Schmid et al. haben 2014 einen Patienten mit PTEN-Hamartom-Tumor-Syndrom (PHTS) mit einer heterozygoten PTEN-Keimbahndeletion und massiver Lipomatose beschrieben, bei dem erhöhte IGFBP-2 Serumspiegel gemessen wurden. Ziel dieser Arbeit war es zu analysieren, ob PTEN-defiziente Lipomzellen des Patienten im Vergleich zu Kontrollfettzellen mehr IGFBP-2 produzieren, sowie den Einfluss verschiedener pharmakologischer Inhibitoren des AKT/PI3K/mTOR - und des MAPK- Signalwegs auf die IGFBP-2 Produktion zu untersuchen. In der PTEN-defizienten Lipomzellkultur, gewonnen aus reseziertem Lipomgewebe des Patienten, wurden vergleichbare Mengen an IGFBP-2 wie in den nicht PTEN-defizienten Kontrollzellen gefunden. Die pharmakologische Hemmung der PI3K und AKT bewirkten eine signifikante Senkung der IGFBP-2 Expression und Sekretion, wohingegen sich bei Hemmung der MEK und des mTORC1 keine Effekte zeigten. Diese Ergebnisse weisen darauf hin, dass eine heterozygote PTEN-Deletion in Lipomzellen nicht zu einer erhöhten IGFBP-2 Produktion führt und daher die erhöhten Serumspiegel des Patienten nicht darauf zurückzuführen sind. Des Weiteren bestätigen die in vitro Ergebnisse die klinische Beobachtung, dass unter der Therapie mit dem mTORC1-Inhibitor Rapamycin die IGFBP-2 Serumspiegel des Patienten nicht zurückgingen. Möglicherweise stellt IGFBP-2 jedoch einen geeigneten Verlaufsmarker für eine Therapie mit PI3K- oder AKT-Inhibitoren dar.

In den letzten Jahren wurde gezeigt, dass die Serumkonzentration des insulinähnlichen Wachstumsfaktorbindungsproteins-2 (IGFBP-2) bei Krebserkrankungen, die mit dem Verlust des Tumorsuppressorgens PTEN einhergehen, erhöht ist und daher möglicherweise einen Marker für den PTEN-Status und die Aktivität des PI3K/AKT/mTOR-Signalweges darstellt. Schmid et al. haben 2014 einen Patienten mit PTEN-Hamartom-Tumor-Syndrom (PHTS) mit einer heterozygoten PTEN-Keimbahndeletion und massiver Lipomatose beschrieben, bei dem erhöhte IGFBP-2 Serumspiegel gemessen wurden. Ziel dieser Arbeit war es zu analysieren, ob PTEN-defiziente Lipomzellen des Patienten im Vergleich zu Kontrollfettzellen mehr IGFBP-2 produzieren, sowie den Einfluss verschiedener pharmakologischer Inhibitoren des AKT/PI3K/mTOR - und des MAPK- Signalwegs auf die IGFBP-2 Produktion zu untersuchen. In der PTEN-defizienten Lipomzellkultur, gewonnen aus reseziertem Lipomgewebe des Patienten, wurden vergleichbare Mengen an IGFBP-2 wie in den nicht PTEN-defizienten Kontrollzellen gefunden. Die pharmakologische Hemmung der PI3K und AKT bewirkten eine signifikante Senkung der IGFBP-2 Expression und Sekretion, wohingegen sich bei Hemmung der MEK und des mTORC1 keine Effekte zeigten. Diese Ergebnisse weisen darauf hin, dass eine heterozygote PTEN-Deletion in Lipomzellen nicht zu einer erhöhten IGFBP-2 Produktion führt und daher die erhöhten Serumspiegel des Patienten nicht darauf zurückzuführen sind. Des Weiteren bestätigen die in vitro Ergebnisse die klinische Beobachtung, dass unter der Therapie mit dem mTORC1-Inhibitor Rapamycin die IGFBP-2 Serumspiegel des Patienten nicht zurückgingen. Möglicherweise stellt IGFBP-2 jedoch einen geeigneten Verlaufsmarker für eine Therapie mit PI3K- oder AKT-Inhibitoren dar.

No description available.

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Background: Multiple lines of evidence implicate the insulin-like growth factor(IGF) group of proteins in human type 2 diabetes. The actions of IGF-I and IGF-IIare modulated through their interaction with IGF binding proteins. A holisticapproach to study the IGF system is preferable to analyses of individual proteininteractions as the inter-relationships between these proteins are complex. Inparticular, the associations of IGF-II and its associated binding proteins withcardiovascular risk have been inadequately studied. This study aimed to study indetail the genotype and phenotype interactions of the IGF system with longitudinalcardiovascular risk factor trends and phenotypic outcomes in type 2 diabetes.Methods: 1000 subjects of predominantly Caucasian origin from the SalfordDiabetes Cohort were studied. Measurements of IGF proteins (IGF-I, IGF-II,IGFBP-1, IGFBP-2 and IGFBP-3) were performed in 554 of these patients. 991Caucasian subjects were successfully genotyped for 76 single nucleotidepolymorphisms (SNPs) related to ten genes in the IGF system. In this project weanalysed associations of the studied SNPs with the measured IGF proteins as well aslongitudinal risk factor trends. In addition, the baseline concentrations of themeasured proteins were studied for associations with cardiovascular risk factortrends and vascular outcomes.Results: This project demonstrates for the first time that high serum IGF-IIconcentration at baseline predicts longitudinal increases in high-density lipoproteincholesterol. High baseline IGF-II was also observed to predict longitudinal weightloss. High baseline concentration of IGFBP-2 (which has a preferential associationof IGF-II over IGF-I) was associated with a number of favourable longitudinalcardiovascular risk trends like increased HDL cholesterol and decreased diastolicblood pressure. However high IGFBP-2 was also associated with deterioration inrenal function and increased all-cause and cardiovascular mortality. The IGF2 geneand the genes encoding IGFBP-2 and IGFBP-5 (proteins with IGF-II bindingaffinity) were also associated with longitudinal trends in renal function, bloodpressure and cholesterol concentration.Discussion: This study is the most detailed exploration to date of the genotype andphenotype interactions of the IGF system in a Caucasian population with type 2diabetes. Results from this study strongly hint that changes in IGF-II bioavailabilitymay influence inter-individual variations in cardiovascular risk. The precisebiological role of IGF-II merits clarification in future expression studies in renal,adipose and vascular tissues. Replication of significant results in an independentdiabetes cohort and measurement of other IGF binding proteins will be performed inthe next stage of this study.

The present thesis entitled “Design, Synthesis and Characterization of Novel Nanomaterials” is divided into five chapters, staring with a general introduction. The remaining chapters focus on four different areas/projects that I have worked on. Chapter 1: Introduction to nanomaterials This chapter reviews the basic concepts of nanomaterials and their fabrication methods. Nanomaterials are defined as materials whose dimensions (at least one) are below 100 nm. One of the most exciting aspects of nanomaterials is that their properties may differ significantly from those of the corresponding bulk materials. Nanomaterials fabrication methods can be broadly classified according to whether the assembly follows either i) the bottom-up approach or ii) the top-down approach. These methods have been discussed with various examples including the self-assembly of proteins, peptides and small molecules. In the top-down approach synthetic procedures for Graphene Oxide and its application are discussed. All characterization techniques that are used for characterizing the nanomaterials are also described briefly. Chapter 2 Section A: Self-assembly of 1-Hydroxy benzotriazole (HOBT) in water The studies presented in Chapter 2 identifies HOBT as the smallest non-peptide building block that spontaneously self-assembles into hollow micro tubular structures upon evaporation of water. The tubes form under ambient conditions by rolling over of crystalline sheets of HOBT. The packing of HOBT in the tubes seem to be predominantly driven by intermolecular π-stacking interactions between the aromatic rings of HOBT. These structural and packing patterns are similar to those found in nanotubes formed by the self-assembly of peptides and other larger molecules. The cavities of these thermolabile microtubes act as molds for casting gold nanoparticles for the synthesis of gold microrods with monodisperse dimensions. The non-reacting inner surfaces of the cavities have been used to uniquely synthesize R6G-functionalized gold microrods. With these features, HOBT is an important novel non-peptide building block for accessing micro and nanometric materials for their applications in medicine, biology and molecular biotechnology. Section B: Controlling the orientation of self-assembly of HOBT microtubes The studies presented in this chapter address the self-assembly of HOBT into microtubular structures in different solvents of varying polarities (H2O and DCM:MeOH) to understand the role of solvent volatility and its direction on the orientation of the HOBT microtubes. HOBT self-assembles from DCM:MeOH mixtures in its bipolar canonical form and is coordinated with its water of hydration, similar to its crystals obtained from water. FTIR and TGA data shows that MeOH is also integrated with the microtubes. We observe for the first time that the orientation of microtubular self-assembly is controlled in the direction of evaporation of the solvent. We demonstrate further this feature by controlling the orientation of HOBT self-assembly in exclusively vertical direction through controlled vertical evaporation of the solvent mixture DCM:MeOH (9:1). Additionally, the unique transition between vertical and horizontal orientations for self-assembled HOBT microtubes is achieved by simple change of solvation between aqueous and organic solvents. These results reveal a dynamic relationship between the rate of evaporation of solvent and the rates of formation of different self-assembled morphologies. The rate of evaporation of the solvent primarily governs the rate of formation of the tubes, rather than their orientations in three dimensions. Chapter 3: Chemical origins of debris in Graphene Oxide (GO) This chapter is focused on the investigation of the carbonyl rich fragments arising from GO and provides an understanding of its formation. The fragments are expelled from GO due to an uncontrolled nucleophile driven reaction in aqueous medium leaving the holes on the sheet. These fragments are carbonyl rich small (5 ± 2 nm) nonaromatic molecules that form as by-products of oxidative chemical reactions that occur at the sp3 clusters on the basal surface of GO sheets when they are treated with nucleophilic bases under aqueous conditions. The structure and size of the debris, and hence that of the hole, depend on the size of the sp3 cluster on the sheet. These debris fall out of the GO sheet surface, leading to formation of nanometer sized holes. Formation of debris and hence the holes can be avoided by using anhydrous polar solvents. This work sheds new light on the fundamental structure of GO and the prevention of debris from it during redox reactions enabling better control over functionalization of the GO surface. Chapter 4: Measurement of mechanical properties of polypeptide fragment from Insulin like growth factor binding protein nanotubes by the Peak Force QNM method This chapter describes the discovery of Polypeptide fragment from an IGFBP-2. This fragment self-assembles spontaneously and reversibly into nanotubular structures under oxidizing conditions. These nanotubes were characterized by using Transmission electron microscopy. Notably as compared to the monomer, an increase in intrinsic fluorescence upon self-assembly. The thermal stability of these nanotubes is realized form the fluorescence studies. Peak Force Quantitative Nanomechanical Mapping method of AFM was used to measure the Young’s modulus of the nanotubes. These nanotubes were found to have Young’s modulus value of ~10 Gpa, which is comparable to those of bones presumably due to intermolecular disulphide bonds. These nanotubes will have potential applications in tissue engineering. Chapter 5: Probing the pathways of n→π* interaction in peptides This chapter deals with the theoretical study of n→π* interaction in designed peptidomimetics. The n→π* interaction involves the delocalization of the lone pair of the donor group into the antibonding orbital (π*) of a carbonyl group. However despite beeing extensively studied there exists a debate over the validation of these n→π* interaction which is reminiscent to Bürgi and Dunitz trajectory. This chapter present our findings that peptidomimetics containing the 5,6-dihydro-4H-1,3-oxazine (Oxa) and 5,6-dihydro-4H-1,3-thiazine (Thi) functional groups at the C-terminus of Pro selectively stabilizes the cis conformer by reverse n→πi-1* interaction. These systems have been used to study the n→πi1* interaction using Natural Bond Orbital (NBO) method. Our study reveals that the energetically most favorable trajectory of a nucleophile for a favorable n→π* interaction presumably to facilitate the overlap between the lonepair of the nucleophile and the antibonding orbital of the carbonyl group. The geometrical requirements for the optimum n→π* interaction depends on the relative orientations of the orbitals that are involved. This study has implications for more accurately identifying long distant n→π* interaction.

Understanding how insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) signaling in mammary epithelial cells may be modified or interrupted by modifications in the cellular environment may lead to 1) methods to increase the growth and proliferation of normal mammary epithelial cells for an increase in the amount of milk produced on a per animal basis or to 2) the development of medical interventions to disrupt the growth and proliferation of cancerous mammary epithelial cells. IGF-I, a signaling protein provided by stromal cells and through the bloodstream, stimulates the proliferation of mammary epithelial cells and is crucial for mammary development. Collagen I is an extracellular matrix protein (ECM) found in skin and in other connective tissues throughout the body. The guiding question in this dissertation was how IGF-I signaling and how binding protein profile were influenced by autocrine IGF-I and by collagen I. The MAC-T cell line was chosen as the cell model utilized in these investigations because it is an immortalized bovine mammary epithelial cell line known to retain hormonal responsiveness to IGF-I. It was hypothesized that the production of IGF-I by mammary epithelial cells (autocrine secretion) would alter the response of these cells to additional IGF-I by de-sensitizing the IGF-I receptor on the cell surface. The normal mammary epithelial cell does not produce IGF-I and responds to IGF-I supplied either by stromal cells (paracrine pathway) or through the bloodstream (endocrine pathway). The IGF-I secreting bovine mammary epithelial cell line was investigated for the response of the cells to autocrine IGF-I, and the response was compared to the normal, parental cell line. To examine the effect of autocrine IGF-I on the cells, IGF-I was added both to MAC-T cells and to cells transfected to secrete IGF-I (SV40-IGF-I). The cell response of the two cell lines was compared using microphysiometry, a tool that measures IGF-IR stimulation by detecting resultant extracellular acidification. It was found that the SV40-IGF-I cell line retains IGF-I receptor sensitivity, yet, unlike the parental cell line, does not proliferate in response to IGF-I. Both cell lines exhibited increased protein synthesis in response to IGF-I as measured by amino acid uptake (AIB incorporation), but the lack of a proliferation response to additional IGF-I in the SV40-IGF-I cell line suggested that the autocrine cell line exhibited an un-coupling of IGF-IR stimulation with downstream cell proliferation. Both autocrine IGF-I and added IGF-I increased the amount of IGFBP-3 secreted by the cells into growth media. Additionally, it was hypothesized that the presence of collagen I, an important ECM protein, would alter the cell production of insulin-like binding protein-3 (IGFBP-3), a protein that modulates IGF-I interaction with the IGF-I receptor (IGF-IR). The literature reports that surface substrate can affect the phenotypic expression of cells, presumably via interaction with integrins, the cell surface receptors that connect cells to ECM proteins and that are responsible for cell adhesion and for cell migration. It was hypothesized that the MAC-T cells would interact with a collagen I surface (possibly via the a2b1 integrin) and that the stimulation of this transmembrane signaling molecule would in turn impact the IGF-I signaling pathway. Comparison studies on tissue culture plastic, collagen I BIOCOAT, and collagen I gel were performed. It was found that collagen I gel increased IGFBP-3 secretion and decreased insulin-like binding protein-2 (IGFBP-2) secretion in MAC-T cells. The collagen I BIOCOAT did not induce this response. Additional studies were performed to determine if there were differences in IGF-IR phosphorylation, exogenous IGF-I utilization, and IGFBP mRNA production by cells cultured on the three different substrates. IGF-IR phosphorylation was only evident following the addition of IGF-I to MAC-T cells on all three substrates. Measurement of residual IGF-I present in the cultured media of cells on all three substrates by radioimmunoassay did not reveal any differences in the amount of IGF-I present. Northern blot analysis revealed that the addition of IGF-I caused an increase in detected IGFBP-3 mRNA and a decrease in detected IGFBP-2 mRNA across all three surfaces. As measured by ligand blot analysis, cells cultured on all three surfaces showed an increase in IGFBP-3 protein in the media with IGF-I addition, and the collagen I gel showed more IGFBP-3 protein than the other two surfaces. However, cells cultured on collagen I gel showed a decrease in IGFBP-2 protein expression compared to cells cultured on tissue culture both with and without the addition of IGF-I. Cells cultured on tissue culture plastic and on collagen I BIOCOAT did not show a decrease in IGFBP-2 to correspond with the decreased IGFBP-2 mRNA detected in the presence of IGF-I on all three substrates. DNA assays to detect cell proliferation revealed no differences in cell DNA content in the absence of exogenous IGF-I and revealed similar increases in response to IGF-I addition on all three substrates. In conclusion, it was found that autocrine IGF-I un-couples increased IGF-IR stimulation by exogenous IGF-I from a downstream cell proliferation response. IGFBP-3 inhibits the ability of IGF-I to interact with the IGF-IR in MAC-T cells and inhibits subsequent cell proliferation. Collagen I gel increases IGFBP-3 secretion and decreases IGFBP-2 secretion by MAC-T cells. The relevance of this work is that it adds to the body of knowledge in understanding cellular function in mammary epithelial cells. It is known that the growth and the maintenance of living tissue are dependent on an intricate system of intercellular and intracellular responses which are orchestrated by the movement and secretion of proteins and other molecules. Goals of understanding mammary epithelial cell function include having the means to find ways to increase cell functionality via bioengineering and having the means to find ways to restore cells to normal function in disease processes such as cancer. / Ph. D.

科学研究費補助金 研究種目:基盤研究(C)(2) 課題番号:11660282 研究代表者:喜多 一美 研究期間:1999-2000年度

My research work for PhD has focused on: (i) the development and application of new NMR methodologies to solve challenging problems in structural biology and (ii) studying important biological systems to correlate their structural and functional aspects. I have worked on diverse research projects ranging from NMR methodology development to the study of structure and dynamics of protein-based nanotubes. Chapter 1 of my thesis gives brief introduction to bio-molecular NMR spectroscopy and the different biological systems that I have studied. In recent years, several new methods have emerged for rapid NMR data collection. One class of methods is G-matrix Fourier transform (GFT) projection NMR spectroscopy. GFT NMR spectroscopy involves phase sensitive joint sampling of two or more chemical shifts in an indirect dimension of a multidimensional NMR experiment. Chapter 2 describes a new method based on the principle of GFT NMR for increasing further the speed of data collection. In the current implementations of the GFT method, cosine/sine modulation of all chemical shifts involved in the joint sampling are collected and stored as separate FIDs. A post-acquisition data processing step (application of G-matrix) then separates the different inter-modulations of chemical shifts. Thus, joint sampling of K+1 spins results in 2K combination of chemical shifts (also representing 2K projection angles). One limitation of this approach is that even if only a few of the 2K components of the multiplet (or projection angles) is desired, an entire data set containing information for all 2K shift combinations is collected. We have proposed a simple method which releases this restriction and allows one to selectively detect only the desired linear combination of chemical shifts/projection angles out of 2K combinations in a phase sensitive manner. The method involves selecting the appropriate cosine/sine modulations of chemical shifts and forming the desired linear combination by phase cycling of the radiofrequency pulses and receiver. This will benefit applications where only certain linear combination of shifts are desired or/and are sufficient. Further, G-matrix transformation required for forming the linear combination is performed within the pulse sequence. This avoids the need for any post-acquisition data processing. Taken together, this mode of data acquisition will foster new applications in projection NMR spectroscopy for rapid resonance assignment and structure determination. Chapter 3 describes another GFT NMR-based method for rapid estimation of secondary structure in proteins. This involves the detection of specific linear combination of backbone chemical shifts and facilitates a clear separation and estimation of residues in different secondary structures of a given protein. This methodology named as CSSI-PRO (Combination of Shifts for Secondary structure Identification in PROteins), involves detection of specific linear combination of backbone 1Hα and 13C’ chemical shifts in a two dimensional (2D) NMR experiment. Such linear combination of shifts facilitates editing of residue belonging to α-helical/ β-strand regions into distinct spectral regions nearly independent of the amino acid type. This helps in the estimation of overall secondary structure content of the protein. Comparison of the estimated secondary structure content with those obtained from the respective 3D structures and/or the method of Chemical Shift Index (CSI) was carried out for 254 proteins and gives a correlation of more than 90% and an overall RMSD of 6.5%. The method has high sensitivity and data can be acquired in a few minutes. This methodology has several applications such as for high-throughput screening of proteins in structural proteomics and for monitoring conformational changes during protein folding and/or ligand-binding events. Chapter 4 (Part-A and Part-B) describes an area of my research which involves the study of structure and function in the Insulin-like Growth Factor Binding Protein (IGFBP) family. IGFBPs (six in number; IGFBP1-6) belong to the IGF-system, which plays an important role in growth and development of the human body. This system is comprised of the following components: (i) Two peptide hormones, IGF-1 and -2, (ii) type 1 and type 2 IGF receptors, (iii) six IGF-binding proteins (IGFBP; numbered 1-6) and (iv) IGFBP proteases. IGF-1 and -2 are small signalling peptides (~7.5 kDa) that stimulate action by binding to specific cell surface receptors (IGF-1R) evoking subsequent response inside the cell. Six soluble IGF binding proteins, the IGFBPs, which range in 22-31 kDa in size and share overall sequence and structural homology with each other, regulate the activity of the IGFs. IGFBPs bind strongly to IGFs (KD ~ 300-700 pM) to ensure that all the circulating IGF in the blood stream is sequestered and inhibit the action of IGFs by blocking their access to the receptors. Proteolysis of the IGFBPs dissociates IGFs from the complex, enabling them to bind and activate the cell surface receptors. IGFBPs have been recently implicated in different cancers and HIV/AIDS. However, the nature of their interaction with the ligand: IGF-1 or IGF-2 at a molecular level poorly understood. This is due to the difficulty in over-expressing these proteins in large scale and in soluble amounts which is required for structural studies. We have for the first time developed an efficient method for bacterial expression of full-length human IGFBP-2, a 33 kDa system, in soluble (upto 30 mg/ml) and folded form. Using a single step purification protocol, hIGFBP-2 was obtained with >95% purity and structurally characterized using NMR spectroscopy. The protein was found to exist as a monomer at the high concentrations required for structural studies and to exist in a single conformation exhibiting a unique intra-molecular disulfide-bonding pattern. The protein retained full biologic activity as evident from its strong binding to IGF-1 and IGF-2 detected using surface plasmon resonance (SPR). This study represents the first high-yield expression of wild-type recombinant human IGFBP-2 in E. coli and first structural characterization by NMR. Using different NMR methods, we are now in the process of elucidating the 3D structure of this molecule. Chapter 5 (Part-A and Part-B) describes our discovery of nanotubular structures formed by spontaneous self-assembly of a small fragment from the C-terminal domain of hIGFBP-2. The nanotubular structures are several micrometers long and have a uniform outer diameter of ~35 nm. These structures were studied extensively by NMR and other techniques such as TEM, fluorescence and circular dichroism (CD). The water soluble nanotubes form through intermolecular disulphide bonds due to the presence of three cysteines in the polypeptide chain and exhibit enhanced tyrosine fluorescence. Based on different experimental evidences we have proposed a mechanism for the formation of the nanotubes. This was considered as a breakthrough by the journal ChemComm and featured on the cover-page of the journal. An article highlighting the discovery was also published in RSC news. In recent years, a number of novel polypeptide and DNA based nanotubes have been reported. Our study reveals intrinsically fluorescent self-assembling nanotubes made up of disulphide bonds having the following novel properties: (i) their formation/dissociation can be controlled by tuning the redox conditions, (ii) they do not require the support of any additional chemical agent for self-assembly, (iii) they have high stability due to the involvement of covalent interactions, (iv) the monomer is a small polypeptide chain which can be chemically synthesized or produced using simple recombinant methods and (v) they possess high inherent fluorescence and can thus be easily detected against a background of other proteins. In addition, the presence of an RGD motif in this polypeptide fragment offers avenues for novel biomedical applications. The RGD motif is known to be recognized by integrins. The design of such self-assembling polypeptide fragments containing an RGD motif can be utilized to enhance the efficacy of cancer therapeutics. Towards this end, we have investigated the structural basis of formation of these nanotubular structures by NMR spectroscopy and proposed its application for cancer cell imaging.