Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts: Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound   Target Concepts: Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound

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Query: EC:1.5.1.3 (dihydrofolate reductase)
5,819 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

The effects of methotrexate (inhibiting dihydrofolate reductase) and nitrous oxide (inactivating methionine synthase) on intracellular folate coenzyme levels of leukemic cells were studied. Blast cells from 10 cases of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and 5 cases of acute lymphoid leukemia (ALL) were incubated with 5 x 10(-8) M [3H] 5-formyltetrahydrofolate (5-formylTHF) for 18 h to label intracellular folate pools, which were subsequently quantitated by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). In AML, 5-methylTHF made up 53% of the total folate pool followed by 10-formylTHF (26%), 5-formylTHF (10%), THF (9%) and DHF (1%). Cells from ALL differed from AML (p less than 0.05) with respect to 10-formylTHF (17%) and DHF (10%). Exposure to nitrous oxide (8 h) caused an equal decrease of 10-formylTHF and 5-formylTHF in both AML (30%) and ALL (45%), whereas 5-methylTHF increased (130%). Methotrexate (4 h, 10(-6) M) caused an accumulation of DHF and a decrease of 5-methylTHF in both AML (32%) and ALL (12%). A specific reduction of the 10-formylTHF (50%) and 5-formylTHF (25%) pools was noticed in ALL. Exposure to nitrous oxide prior to methotrexate treatment aggravated the reduction of 10-formylTHF and 5-formylTHF presumably by impaired replenishment from the 5-methylTHF pool. In conclusion, this study demonstrates a significant difference in folate coenzyme distribution between cells from AML and ALL. Moreover it is shown that nitrous oxide and methotrexate treatment of leukemic cells cause an accumulation of 5-methylTHF and DHF respectively at the expense of other folate forms. The presence of substantial amounts of DHF in cells from ALL together with the specific reduction of 10-formylTHF (necessary for purine synthesis) during MTX treatment may in part explain the efficacy of methotrexate in the treatment of ALL.
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PMID:Effect of nitrous oxide and methotrexate on folate coenzyme pools of blast cells from leukemia patients. 201 7

Exponentially growing human lymphoblasts (culture LS-2) were separated by cell sorting (FACS II, Becton Dickinson) according to their deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) content, designating them at particular phases of the cell cycle. Prior to cell sorting the DNA has been fluorochrome-labeled with the Hoechst stain H 33342. Maximum cell enrichments of 94% for G0 + G1 cells, 96% for S cells and 74% for G2 + M cells could be achieved. The enzyme activities of thymidine kinase (TK), thymidylate synthase (TS), DNA polymerase (DNA-P), dihydrofolate reductase (FH2-R), methionine synthase (MS), and hexokinase (HK) were determined in the obtained cell fractions. Although incorporation of 3H-thymidine (3H-dTR) and the 3H-dTR labeling index were significantly inhibited by the dye, no evidence of cell staining's having a significant effect on the enzyme activities was found. The enzyme activities for approximately 100% pure G0 + G1, S, and G2 + M cells were computed. With exception of TK, all the enzymes under study were shown to exhibit activities--although of differing degree--in the G0 + G1, S, and G2 + M cells. No TK activity was shown in G0 and G1 cells; its activity, however, was approximately the same in S and G2 + M cells. This applies likewise for TS which, in contrast to TK, exhibits minor activity in G0 + G1 cells. DNA-P was highly active in G0 + G1 cells, but maximum activity was in S cells. FH2-R exhibited maximum activity in S cells, although the difference in activity between S and G2 + M cells was not significant. None of the observed differences in MS activity was significant, indicating equally high activity in cells of all cell cycle phases. HK activity is approximately twice as high in G2 + M cells as in G0 + G1 cells.
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PMID:Relation between cell cycle stage and the activity of DNA-synthesizing enzymes in cultured human lymphoblasts: investigations on cells separated according to DNA content by way of a cell sorter. 271 50

Several chemotherapeutic protocols for the treatment of malignancies include administration of methotrexate (MTX) during or shortly after total anesthesia. Clinical observations in patients treated for breast carcinoma or childhood cancer have shown unexpected myelosuppression and mucosal damage. This phenomenon may be attributed to the synergistic effects of nitrous oxide, which inactivates the cobalamin coenzyme of methionine synthase, and MTX, which inhibits dihydrofolate reductase, on folate metabolism. However, no quantitative data on dose-effect relationships are available regarding the combined toxicity of MTX and N2O. We investigated the effect of exposure to N2O on the toxicity of MTX. Groups of male Wistar rats were exposed to either 50% N2O/50% O2 or air for 12-48 h. Subsequently, a single i.p. injection of 10, 20, 40, or 80 mg MTX/kg body weight was given. Gastrointestinal toxicity resulted in diarrhea and weight loss in all groups for 5 days after MTX administration. Concomitantly, bone marrow depression with leukocytopenia and thrombocytopenia occurred. Exposure to N2O did not alter the plasma clearance of MTX. No substantial liver or kidney toxicity could be detected, but the 50% lethal dose for MTX was reduced from 60 mg/kg to 10 mg/kg if rats had been exposed to N2O for 48 h; the main causes of death were dehydration and bleeding. The administration of 5-formyl-tetrahydrofolate (4 x 10 mg i.p.) but not 5-methyltetrahydrofolate protected completely against the lethal effect of the drug combination. Altogether, cytotoxic effects of MTX on proliferating cells are potentiated by N2O. Therefore, the use of this anesthetic shortly before or during MTX administration should be avoided.
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PMID:Toxicity of methotrexate in rats preexposed to nitrous oxide. 280 78

Undifferentiated human lymphoblasts (culture LS-2) were separated according to cell size during their exponential growth phase by way of centrifugal elutriation. The cell fractions thus obtained were characterized in terms of different cell cycle stages by flow cytometric measurement of their deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA histogram), the [3H]thymidine labeling index, and by determining the rate of [3H]thymidine incorporation. In these cell fractions the activities of thymidine kinase, thymidylate synthase, DNA polymerase, dihydrofolate reductase, methionine synthase, and hexokinase were determined. The results showed that all the enzymes investigated exhibited activities in all cell fractions. With the exception of DNA polymerase, all of the enzymes exhibited the lowest level of activity in the fraction containing the highest proportion of G0 + G1 phase cells (fraction 2); the activity of thymidine kinase was particularly low. This would suggest that thymidine kinase is not active in G0 + G1 phase cells and that the activity measured in fraction 2 is perhaps attributable to contamination of this fraction by S and G2 + M phase cells.
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PMID:Relation between cell cycle stage and the activity of DNA-synthesizing enzymes in cultured human lymphoblasts: investigations on cell fractions enriched according to cell cycle stages by way of centrifugal elutriation. 366 41

Deficient activity of an enzyme can result from a defect in the conversion of the vitamin to a co-enzyme as well from an abnormal apo-enzyme or disturbed binding of coenzyme to enzyme. Conversion of dietary vitamin to intracellular active co-enzyme can be complex and require many physiological and biochemical processes including stomach release of bound vitamin, intestinal uptake, carriers/transport, blood transport, cellular uptake, intracellular release and intracellular compartmentalisation. Disorders of malabsorption (food cobalamin malabsorption, intrinsic factor deficiency and abnormal enterocyte cobalamin processing) and transport proteins (transcobalamin II deficiency, R-binder deficiency) mostly lead to disturbed function of the two cobalamin requiring enzymes, methylmalonyl CoA mutase and methionine synthase. Defects of early steps of intracellular cobalamin (cblF, cbl C/D) result in marked deficiencies of both cobalamin co-enzymes and homocystinuria combined with methylmalonic aciduria. Defective synthesis of adenosyl cobalamin in the cbl A/B defects leads to methylmalonyl CoA mutase. Isolated methionine synthase deficiency is also classified as a cobalamin disorder due to its associated deficient formation of methylcobalamin. Folate disorders include methylene-tetrahydrofolate reductase deficiency and glutamate formimino-transferase deficiency. In addition a hereditary disorder of intestinal folate transport has been described. Less well established are disorders of dihydrofolate reductase, methenyl-tetrahydrofolate cyclohydrolase, and defects of cellular folate uptake.
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PMID:Genetic defects of folate and cobalamin metabolism. 958 28

During the past several years, Jerapan Krungkrai, H. Kyle Webster and Yongyuth Yuthavong have characterized the metabolic pathway of folate biosynthesis and folate-dependent reactions, including the cobalamin-dependent activity of methionine synthase, in P. falciparum grown in vitro. In this review, they discuss the implications of this work for understanding the mechanism of pyrimethamine resistance and the importance of cloning the dihydrofolate reductase gene. In addition, the role of cobalamin in P. falciparum will be considered. Interference with cobalamin use may represent a new target for combating the parasite.
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PMID:Folate and cobalamin metabolism in Plasmodium falciparum. 1546 78

A mathematical model is developed for the folate cycle based on standard biochemical kinetics. We use the model to provide new insights into several different mechanisms of folate homeostasis. The model reproduces the known pool sizes of folate substrates and the fluxes through each of the loops of the folate cycle and has the qualitative behavior observed in a variety of experimental studies. Vitamin B(12) deficiency, modeled as a reduction in the V(max) of the methionine synthase reaction, results in a secondary folate deficiency via the accumulation of folate as 5-methyltetrahydrofolate (the "methyl trap"). One form of homeostasis is revealed by the fact that a 100-fold up-regulation of thymidylate synthase and dihydrofolate reductase (known to occur at the G(1)/S transition) dramatically increases pyrimidine production without affecting the other reactions of the folate cycle. The model also predicts that an almost total inhibition of dihydrofolate reductase is required to significantly inhibit the thymidylate synthase reaction, consistent with experimental and clinical studies on the effects of methotrexate. Sensitivity to variation in enzymatic parameters tends to be local in the cycle and inversely proportional to the number of reactions that interconvert two folate substrates. Another form of homeostasis is a consequence of the nonenzymatic binding of folate substrates to folate enzymes. Without folate binding, the velocities of the reactions decrease approximately linearly as total folate is decreased. In the presence of folate binding and allosteric inhibition, the velocities show a remarkable constancy as total folate is decreased.
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PMID:A mathematical model of the folate cycle: new insights into folate homeostasis. 1549 3

Aberrant CpG island hypermethylation in gene promoter regions may be an important epigenetic event in human neoplasias, including breast cancer. Dietary and genetic factors that alter DNA methylation levels in normal and tumour tissues could therefore influence both the susceptibility to this disease and tumour phenotype, respectively. In the present study of 227 breast cancers, we investigated whether common polymorphisms in 6 key genes involved in methyl group metabolism (thymidylate synthase, methylene tetrahydrofolate reductase, cystathione beta-synthase, DNA methyltransferase 3B, methylene tetrahydrofolate dehydrogenase, and methionine synthase) were associated with major pathological features of this disease or the frequency of CpG island hypermethylation. No associations were observed between any of the polymorphisms and patient age, tumour size, histological grade or patient outcome. However, tumours from patients who were homozygous for the methionine synthase A2756G polymorphism showed strikingly lower estrogen and progesterone hormone receptor concentrations compared to wild-type homozygotes. Moreover, patients who were homozygous for the methylene tetrahydrofolate dehydrogenase G1958A polymorphism showed a significantly higher frequency of tumour CpG island hypermethylation compared to wild-type homozygotes. Our results show that polymorphisms in two genes involved in methyl group metabolism are associated with hormone receptor content and DNA methylation frequency in breast cancer, however these observations are unlikely to be linked.
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PMID:Germ-line variants in methyl-group metabolism genes and susceptibility to DNA methylation in human breast cancer. 1632 59

This study investigated associations between CpG island methylator phenotype (CIMP) colon cancer and genetic polymorphisms relevant to one-carbon metabolism and thus, potentially the provision of methyl groups and risk of colon cancer. Data from a large, population-based case-control study (916 incident colon cancer cases and 1,972 matched controls) were used. Candidate polymorphisms in methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR), thymidylate synthase (TS), transcobalamin II (TCNII), methionine synthase (MTR), reduced folate carrier (RFC), methylenetetrahydrofolate dehydrogenase 1 (MTHFD1), dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR) and alcohol dehydrogenase 3 (ADH3) were evaluated. CIMP- or CIMP+ phenotype was based on five CpG island markers: MINT1, MINT2, MINT31, p16 and MLH1. The influence of specific dietary factors (folate, methionine, vitamin B(12) and alcohol) on these associations was also analyzed. We hypothesized that polymorphisms involved in the provision of methyl groups would be associated with CIMP+ tumors (two or more of five markers methylated), potentially modified by diet. Few associations specific to CIMP+ tumors were observed overall, which does not support the hypothesis that the provision of methyl groups is important in defining a methylator phenotype. However, our data suggest that genetic polymorphisms in MTHFR 1,298A > C, interacting with diet, may be involved in the development of highly CpG-methylated colon cancers. AC and CC genotypes in conjunction with a high-risk dietary pattern (low folate and methionine intake and high alcohol use) were associated with CIMP+ (OR = 2.1, 95% CI = 1.3-3.4 versus AA/high risk; P-interaction = 0.03). These results provide only limited support for a role of polymorphisms in one-carbon metabolism in the etiology of CIMP colon cancer.
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PMID:Genetic polymorphisms in one-carbon metabolism: associations with CpG island methylator phenotype (CIMP) in colon cancer and the modifying effects of diet. 1744 6

Folate metabolism of the malaria parasites provides two targets for current antimalarials: dihydrofolate reductase and dihydropteroate synthase. Dihydrofolate reductase inhibitors have been used as antimalarials over the past few decades, often in combination with dihydropteroate synthase inhibitors. Resistance to these antifolate drugs developed through mutations in both target enzymes. However, limited mutation possibilities gave opportunities for the development of new drugs. Furthermore, other enzymes in the folate and related pathways are potential new targets that remain to be exploited. These include thymidylate synthase, an enzyme fused with dihydrofolate reductase in the same protein chain, serine hydroxymethyltransferase, methylene tetrahydrofolate dehydrogenase, methionine synthase and enzymes in the glycine cleavage pathway.
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PMID:Folate metabolism as a source of molecular targets for antimalarials. 1766 90


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