Predicting coiled coils by use of pairwise residue correlations

A method is presented that predicts coiled-coil domains in protein sequences by using pairwise residue correlations obtained from a (two-stranded) coiled-coil database of 58,217 amino acid residues. A program called PAIRCOIL implements this method and is significantly better than existing methods at distinguishing coiled coils from alpha-helices that are not coiled coils. The database of pairwise residue correlations suggests structural features that stabilize or destabilize coiled coils.

BCG vaccine therapy for treatment of superficial bladder cancer

A total of 42 patients were involved in the study of the effectiveness of BCG vaccine on superficial bladder tumours. The new Bulgarian vaccine CALGEVAX was administered intravesically in consecutive instillations once weekly and then once monthly for a period of 11 months. For intradermal application the F-70 subcellular preparation was used. On the grounds of their initial experience in the treatment of superficial bladder tumours with unspecific immunotherapy the authors would like to express their confidence in the effectiveness of the intravesical application of BCG vaccine.