Search PubMed⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

Juliann Kwak

Publications and source records attributed to Juliann Kwak.

2 recordsLinked to original sources

Epidermolytic hyperkeratosis.

A 13-year-old boy presented to the dermatology clinic for treatment of a congenital ichthyosis with a history of generalized erythroderma and trauma related blistering at the time of birth. At the time of presentation he was noted to have red corrugated hyperkeratotic plaques involving the joint flexures, dorsal hands, and neck. Epidermolytic hyperkeratosis is a rare autosomal dominant genodermatosis that presents at birth with generalized erythema, blisters and erosions. In the subsequent months after birth erythema and blistering improves but patients go on to develop hyperkeratotic scaling that is especially prominent along the joint flexures, neck, hands and feet. The disease is caused by mutations in either keratin 1 or keratin 10. Treatment options include urea or alpha-hydroxy acid containing creams as well as topical and systemic retinoids. Epidermolytic hyperkeratosis is also known as bullous congenital ichthyosiform erythroderma (of Brocq) and disorder of cornification type 3.

Adolescent↗

TREN (Tris(2-aminoethyl)amine): an effective scaffold for the assembly of triple helical collagen mimetic structures.

A new scaffold, TREN-(suc-OH)(3) where TREN is tris(2-aminoethyl)amine and suc is the succinic acid spacers, was incorporated to assemble triple helices composed of Gly-Nleu-Pro sequences (Nleu denotes N-isobutylglycine). Extensive biophysical studies which include denaturation studies, CD and NMR spectroscopy, and molecular modeling demonstrated that TREN-[suc-(Gly-Nleu-Pro)(n)-NH(2)](3) (n = 5 and 6) form stable triple helical structures in solution. A comparative analysis of TREN-assembled and KTA-assembled collagen mimetics (KTA denotes Kemp triacid, 1,3,5-trimethylcyclohexane-1,3,5-tricarboxylic acid) indicates that the flexibility of the TREN scaffold is superior to the KTA scaffold in inducing triple helicity. This effect most likely arises from the flexibility of the TREN scaffold which allows the three peptide chains to adjust their register for a tighter triple helical packing.

Circular Dichroism↗