We synthesized a short peptide from a protein based on in silico analysis. The synthesized peptide has immunomodulatory activity. However, there are no reports so far on whether or not the native protein has immunomodulatory activity? How can I justify this outcome for writing a manuscript? Can this result be published?
Be critical. Think about the weaknesses of the work. Don't just talk about them and make excuses. Prove that the activity you are observing is real, by applying plenty of controls.
One control should be a "scrambled" peptide with the same amino acids but in a randomized sequence. You also should test the peptide in alternative assay systems, to rule out systemic bias. Try different cells, tissues, breeds, species. Consider including knockouts or inhibitory antibodies to identify the pathway.
If you think the result will be difficult to publish because of its novelty, start asking your peers for critical review now. Use the right statistics to characterize the data. But if you need statistics to detect the effect, you probably need a better experiment.
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