Specific inhibition of binding of antistasin and [A103,106,108] antistasin 93–119 to sulfatide (Gal(3-SO4)β1-1Cer) by glycosaminoglycans

AbstractLeech-derived antistasin is a potent anticoagulant and antimetastatic protein that binds sulfatide (Gal(3-SO4)β1-1Cer)and sulfated polysaccharides. In this study, the synthetic fragment [A103,106,108] antistasin 93–119, which corresponds to the carboxyl terminus, showed specific and saturable binding to sulfatide. Binding was competitively blocked by glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) in the order: dextran sulfate 5000 ≅ dextran sulfate 500 0OO > heparin > dermatan sulfate ⪢ chondroitin sulfates A and C. This rank order of inhibitory potency was identical to that observed with whole antistasin. We suggest that residues 93–119 of antistasin represent a critical domain for binding GAGs and sulfated glycolipids

Humanitarian Futures

This chapter grows out of an engagement between scholars and practitioners interested and invested in questions about humanitarian futures, that is, questions around the future of humanitarianism as both a normative, ethical commitment to life and a practice concerned with saving lives, relieving suffering, and upholding human dignity. These urgent questions are increasingly being considered by scholars and practitioners. While there is an ever-growing body of work concerned with the politics of humanitarianism, both as a normative ideal and as a practice of intervention, recent interventions related to decolonizing humanitarianism have been keen to stress the importance of understanding the differences between them. Recent exposes made by those who have worked in the humanitarian industry have shone a light on the racist and white supremacist practices rooted in humanitarianism’s liberal universalizing claims. Shining a light on racism and white supremacy in the humanitarian industry requires an interrogation of the human subject at the heart of humanitarianism