I'm looking for information on the use of PHOSPHODIESTER asd4 in the
treatment of colitis.

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Request for Question Clarification by umiat-ga on 19 Jun 2004 12:24 PDT

Hello, parachute-ga!
 Upon a preliminary search, I have found various references to the
term PHOSPHODIESTER, but nothing about "asd4", either alone or in
conjunction with phosphodiester. Can you provide any further input
about this term?
umiat

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Clarification of Question by parachute-ga on 20 Jun 2004 06:13 PDT

Apparently there is ongoing research and experiments for use with this
molecule in the treatment of colitis. Since you can't find this
specific phosphodiester can you find any studies on phosphodiesters in
general being tested in either humans or animals for bowel/intestinal
diseases. What is the rationale for using them?
Thanks

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Request for Question Clarification by pafalafa-ga on 28 Jun 2004 11:05 PDT

A phosphodiester is the type of bond that -- more or less -- holds DNA
together.  It does not have a medical use, as far as I know.  Rather,
anything that disrupts phosphodiester bonds can lead to diseases, and
molecules that prevent or repair phosphodiester disruption can be
tested as cures.

asd4 is protein involved in the regulation of DNA transcriptions in
fungii-type organisms.  I am not aware of it having any medical use
(even an experimental use) whatsoever.

Where did you hear about phosphodiesters and asd4?  The more context
you can provide, the better the chances we can provide an answer to
your question.

Thanks.

pafalafa-ga

Completely off the wall here, and only very limited understanding, but
I found a couple of references to the term 'ASD4' that *may* link to
colitis indirectly.

Title
ASD4, a new GATA factor of Neurospora crassa, displays
sequence-specific DNA binding and functions in ascus and ascospore
development.

Source
Biochemistry. 39(36):11065-73, 2000 Sep 12.

This abstract talks about something called 'ASD4' being a specific
GATA binding protien.

Now, cross checking for GATA and Colitis gave up this...


Title
Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma agonist ligands
stimulate a Th2 cytokine response and prevent acute colitis.

Source
Inflammatory Bowel Diseases. 8(5):330-9, 2002 Sep.


which has nothing at all to do with ASD4, but does suggest that these
ligands  'stimulated increased GATA-3 expression' in mice, and GATA-3
is a protien that binds GATA sequences, and in doing so may modify the
immune system in mice.

Putting it all (very shakily I might add) together, it may be that
someone has come up with the idea of using the ASD4 protien to try and
illicit the same kind of response.

At the very least there would appear to be a link between 'asd4',
'phosphodiester', and 'colitis'.

I found no specific references to ASD4 and colitis however, so this
can only be considered wild conjecture.

Andy