Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: EC:2.4.2.8 (hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyltransferase)
 2,527 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

In an effort to further understand the pathogenesis of Lesch-Nyhan syndrome, an X-linked recessive disease of purine metabolism associated with a deficiency of hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyltransferase, we have analyzed the amino acids in autopsy brain material obtained from five patients and six controls. The amino acids glycine and glutamine serve as substrates for the synthesis of purines in man. Amino acids were measured in the occipital cortex, limbic cortical area, cerebellar cortex, hippocampus and putamen. In general the amino acids were usually lower in concentration in brain material from affected individuals. Most dramatically decreased were threonine, serine, valine, isoleucine, lysine and arginine. Only glutamine and urea were higher than controls. Glutamate, gamma-aminobutyrate and cystathionine were essentially unaffected. The data reported here do not support a role for increased glycine in the pathogenesis of this disease as implied by findings previously reported in cultured cell lines (Skaper and Seegmiller 1976, 1977). The current findings suggest that individuals with Lesch-Nyhan syndrome have a generally lower concentration of free amino acids in brain. This decrease may be involved in the etiology of the disease or the decrease may be a result of the generally malnourished state of these individuals. These results imply that affected patients have a limited supply of amino acid precursors available for the synthesis of either proteins or neurotransmitters that the brain requires for normal function. Thus, the low amino acid pools could be an important factor in the brain dysfunction observed in patients with Lesch-Nyhan syndrome.
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PMID:Decreased amino acids in various brain areas of patients with Lesch-Nyhan syndrome. 713 31

(1) The currently used clinical anti-metabolites are targeted against-key enzymes of de novo purine and pyrimidine biosynthesis. However, the activities of salvage enzymes in each of the biosynthetic segments are markedly higher than those of the rate-limiting enzymes of de novo biosynthesis. Enzyme-pattern-targeted chemotherapy has been suggested to overcome the circumvention activity of salvage. Combination of inhibition of de novo and salvage pathways does provide a synergistic impact. Examples that enzyme-pattern-targeted drug treatment yields synergism include the following: tiazofurin (against IMP DH) and allopurinol (by raising serum hypoxanthine levels it inhibits GPRT); methotrexate or 5-FU lead to inhibition of the dTMP synthase reaction and AZT (a competitive inhibitor of thymidine kinase) or dipyridamole (a nucleoside transport inhibitor); acivicin, an inhibitor and inactivator of glutamine-utilizing enzymes in the de novo pathways of purine and pyrimidine biosynthesis, and dipyridamole. (2) Administration of MTX, 5-FU, tiazofurin or acivicin causes inhibition and/or inactivation of target enzymes. That these drugs are effective in spite of the presence of highly active salvage enzymes is now accounted for, at least in part, by new observations showing that these drugs markedly reduce (but do not eliminate) the activities (amounts) of CdR and TdR kinases, dTMP synthase and GPRT. This action is attributed to the rapid decay rate of these enzymes. (3) Studies on the bone marrow enzymic programs indicate that there is a window of opportunity for strengthening therapy and for the protection of bone marrow by administering salvage metabolites when the salvage enzymes are still present in high enough activities, i.e., 2-6 hr after administration of the blockers of de novo enzyme activities. (4) These results are a strong argument for discovering and utilizing inhibitors of purine and pyrimidine salvage enzymes to achieve more successful enzyme-pattern-targeted chemotherapy and to avoid development of resistant clones of cancer cells. (5) These approaches provide greater explanatory coherence than the previous accounts because recognition of (a) the importance of salvage and (b) rapid decay of key and salvage enzymes reveals a paradigm shift. The problem-solving process in chemotherapy should now be not only data-driven but also explanation-driven.
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PMID:Targeted and non-targeted actions of anti-cancer drugs. 794 86

The role of an invariant aspartic acid (Asp137) in hypoxanthine phosphoribosyltransferases (HPRTs) was examined by site-directed and saturation mutagenesis, functional analysis, and X-ray crystallography using the HPRT from Trypanosoma cruzi. Alanine substitution (D137A) resulted in a 30-fold decrease of k(cat), suggesting that Asp137 participates in catalysis. Saturation mutagenesis was used to generate a library of mutant HPRTs with random substitutions at position 137, and active enzymes were identified by complementation of a bacterial purine auxotroph. Functional analyses of the mutants, including determination of steady-state kinetic parameters and pH-rate dependence, indicate that glutamic acid or glutamine can replace the wild-type aspartate. However, the catalytic efficiency and pH-rate profile for the structural isosteric mutant, D137N, were similar to the D137A mutant. Crystal structures of four of the mutant enzymes were determined in ternary complex with substrate ligands. Structures of the D137E and D137Q mutants reveal potential hydrogen bonds, utilizing several bound water molecules in addition to protein atoms, that position these side chains within hydrogen bond distance of the bound purine analogue, similar in position to the aspartate in the wild-type structure. The crystal structure of the D137N mutant demonstrates that the Asn137 side chain does not form interactions with the purine substrate but instead forms novel interactions that cause the side chain to adopt a nonfunctional rotamer. The results from these structural and functional analyses demonstrate that HPRTs do not require a general base at position 137 for catalysis. Instead, hydrogen bonding sufficiently stabilizes the developing partial positive charge at the N7-atom of the purine substrate in the transition-state to promote catalysis.
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PMID:The role for an invariant aspartic acid in hypoxanthine phosphoribosyltransferases is examined using saturation mutagenesis, functional analysis, and X-ray crystallography. 1125 86


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