Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: EC:1.5.1.3 (dihydrofolate reductase)
 5,819 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

The rationale for melanoma-specific antitumor agents containing phenolic amines is based in part on the ability of the enzyme tyrosinase to oxidize these prodrugs to toxic intermediates. The phenolic amine compounds 4-S-cysteaminylphenol (4-S-CAP) and N-acetyl-4-S-cysteaminylphenol (N-Ac-4-S-CAP) inhibited in situ thymidylate synthase activity in pigmented melanoma cell lines but had little or no effect on nonpigmented and nonmelanoma cell lines. Theophylline, a cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) phosphodiesterase inhibitor, increased tyrosinase activity and potentiated the inhibition of in situ thymidylate synthase by N-Ac-4-S-CAP. The inhibition of in situ thymidylate synthase by both drugs in pigmented melanoma cells correlated with the inhibition of DNA synthesis and cell growth and was not due to an indirect effect caused by inhibition of the enzyme dihydrofolate reductase. 4-S-CAP inhibition of thymidylate synthase activity in cell free extracts required oxidation of the drug. In the presence of tyrosinase, the concentration causing a 50% inhibition of thymidylate synthase activity (IC50) in cell-free extracts was less than 10 microM, but no inhibition was observed in its absence, even at a drug concentration of 500 microM. Two reducing agents, dithioerythritol and glutathione, effectively blocked the inhibition of thymidylate synthase by oxidized 4-S-CAP. In pigmented melanoma cells containing the enzyme tyrosinase, the quinone-mediated mechanism of inhibition of DNA synthesis via inhibition of thymidylate synthase may be uniquely important in the expression of phenolic amine cytotoxicity.
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PMID:Thymidylate synthase as a target enzyme for the melanoma-specific toxicity of 4-S-cysteaminylphenol and N-acetyl-4-S-cysteaminylphenol. 150 78

Splicing of tRNA precursors in extracts of Saccharomyces cerevisiae requires the action of two enzymes: a site specific endonuclease and a tRNA ligase. The tRNA ligase contains three distinct enzymatic activities: a polynucleotide kinase, a cyclic phosphodiesterase, and an RNA ligase. The polypeptide also has a high affinity pre-tRNA binding site based on its ability to form stable complexes with pre-tRNA substrates. To investigate the organization of functional enzymatic and binding elements within the polypeptide a series of defined tRNA ligase gene deletions were constructed and corresponding proteins were expressed in Escherichia coli as fusions with bacterial dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR). The DHFR/ligase derivative proteins were then efficiently purified by affinity chromatography. The complete ligase fusion protein retained enzymatic and binding activities which were unaffected by the presence of the DHFR segment. Examination of tRNA ligase deletion derivatives revealed that the amino-terminal region was required for adenylylation, while the carboxyl-terminal region was sufficient for cyclic phosphodiesterase activity. Deletions within the central region affected kinase activity. Pre-tRNA binding activity was not strictly correlated with a distinct enzymatic domain. A DHFR/ligase-derived protein lacking kinase activity efficiently joined tRNA halves. We postulate that this variant utilizes a novel RNA ligation mechanism.
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PMID:Deletion analysis of a multifunctional yeast tRNA ligase polypeptide. Identification of essential and dispensable functional domains. 185 Apr 8

Yeast tRNA ligase possesses multiple activities which are required for the joining of tRNA halves during the tRNA splicing process: cyclic phosphodiesterase, kinase, adenylylate synthetase, and ligase. A deletion polypeptide of a dihydrofolate reductase-ligase fusion protein, designated DAC, was previously shown to join tRNA halves although ATP-dependent kinase activity was not measurable in the assay used. We describe here a characterization of the mechanism of joining used by DAC and the structure of the tRNA product. DAC produces a joined tRNA and a splice junction with a structure identical to that produced by DAKC, the full-length dihydrofolate reductase-ligase fusion. Furthermore, DAC can use GTP as the sole cofactor in the joining reaction, in contrast to DAKC, which can only complete splicing in the presence of ATP. Both enzymes exhibit GTP-dependent kinase activity at 100-fold greater efficiency than with ATP. These results suggest that a potential function for the center domain of tRNA ligase (missing in DAC) is to provide structural integrity and aid in substrate interactions and specificity. They also support the hypothesis that ligase may prefer to use two different cofactors during tRNA splicing.
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PMID:Novel activity of a yeast ligase deletion polypeptide. Evidence for GTP-dependent tRNA splicing. 842 18

We have used a Mus domesticus/spretus congenic animal and two interspecific backcross panels to map genetically 30 sequence-tagged sites (STSs) and 13 genes to the vicinity of the pearl locus on mouse chromosome 13. The STSs defining the mapped region are from D13Mit9 to D13Mit37, spanning 10.6 cM. Genes mapped to this region include Versican (Cspg2), GTPase activating protein (Rasa), dihydrofolate reductase (Dhfr), arylsulfatase (As-1), thrombin receptor (Cf2r), hexosaminidase b(Hexb), 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A reductase (Hmgcr), microtubule associated protein 5/1b (Mtap5), phosphodiesterase (Pde), phosphatidylinositol 3' kinase (Pik3rl), rat integrin a1-subunit (Itga1), collagen receptor a2-subunit (Itga2), and 5-hydroxytryptamine 1a receptor (Htr1a). This high resolution genetic map of the pearl region of chromosome 13 establishes the order of multiple markers, including genes whose human homologs are located within a limited region of human chromosome 5, with respect to the phenotypic anchor marker pearl.
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PMID:An integrated genetic map of the pearl locus of mouse chromosome 13. 882 42

Much attention has focused on the development of protein kinases as drug targets to treat a variety of human diseases including diabetes, cancer, hypertension and arthritis. To date, Gleevec is one example of a drug targeting protein that has successfully treated human cancer. Several other protein kinase inhibitors are in clinical development. However, protein kinases are in fact part of a larger collection of some 2000 distinct proteins expressed by the genome that like the protein kinases also bind purines (the purinome), either to be utilized as substrates or as co-factors in the form of NAD, NADP and co-enzyme A. The solution structures of many representative gene family members within the purinome show these proteins bind purines in a similar orientations to that observed in all protein kinases. Several non-protein kinase purine utilizing proteins are established drug targets such as HMG CoA reductase, dihydrofolate reductase, phosphodiesterase and HSP90. Searches of OMIM identifies many purine utilizing enzymes that are associated with inborn errors in metabolism. Inhibition of any one of which by a drug could lead to an undesirable side effect. The purinome is therefore somewhat of a drug discovery mixed blessing. It is a rich source of therapeutic targets, but also contains a large collection of diverse proteins whose inhibition could result in an adverse outcome. Drug discovery within the purinome should therefore encompass strategies that enable broad assessment of selectivity across the entire purinome at the earliest stages of the discovery process. In this article we review the purinome within the context of drug discovery and discuss approaches for avoiding off target binding during the discovery/lead optimization process with particular emphasis on use of proteome mining technology.
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PMID:The purinome, a complex mix of drug and toxicity targets. 1684 50

MicroRNAs play an important regulatory role in the proliferation and differentiation of skeletal muscle-derived satellite cells (MDSCs). In particular, miR-139 can inhibit tumor cell proliferation and invasion, and its expression is down-regulated during C2C12 myoblast differentiation. The aim of this study was thus to examine the effect and potential mechanism of miR-139 in bovine MDSCs. The expression of miR-139 was found to be significantly increased during bovine MDSC differentiation by stem-loop reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction amplification. Statistical analysis of the myotube fusion rate was done through immunofluorescence detection of desmin, and western blotting was used to measure the change in protein expression of the muscle differentiation marker genes MYOG and MYH3. The results showed that the miR-139 mimic could enhance the differentiation of bovine MDSCs, whereas the inhibitor had the opposite effect. By using the dual-luciferase reporter system, miR-139 was found to target the 3'-untranslated region of the dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR) gene and regulate its expression. In addition, the expression of miR-139 was found to be regulated by its host gene phosphodiesterase 2A (PDE2A) via inhibition of the latter by CRISPR interference (CRISPRi). Overall, our findings indicate that miR-139 plays an important role in regulating the differentiation of bovine MDSCs.
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PMID:MiR-139 promotes differentiation of bovine skeletal muscle-derived satellite cells by regulating DHFR gene expression. 3007 80