Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: EC:2.7.1.21 (thymidine kinase)
 7,561 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

In the rat corneal epithelium the mitotic rate (MR) is almost equal throughout the epithelium in the morning (Haaskjold et al. 1988). The labelling index (LI) shows a marked reduction in the central cornea, which could suggest a lack of uptake of tritiated thymidine via the salvage pathway (Haaskjold et al. 1989). In the present study we have used [3H]deoxycytidine, and [3H]thymidine after prior treatment with a methotrexate regimen to elucidate this discrepancy. Deoxycytidine is incorporated into DNA independent of thymidine kinase, while methotrexate, which depletes the cells of reduced folates, makes the cells completely dependent on the salvage pathway. With both techniques the same pattern of labelling was observed, confirming that in the morning the ratio between the MR and the LI differs throughout the cornea. Based on previous observations, an analysis of the MR/LI ratio during 24 h was performed, showing that these parameters were strongly correlated. This suggests that there may be different circadian variations in the cell proliferation parameters throughout the corneal epithelium. The methotrexate regimen may be a useful tool to investigate the salvage pathway.
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PMID:Cell kinetics of the rat corneal epithelium. 149 81

1. Rat thymus cells were incubated in homologous serum (10%) and medium 199. The effects of various quantities of thymidine or deoxycytidine (0-30mum) on the radioactive labelling of cells with the corresponding radioactive deoxynucleoside were examined. From plots of the reciprocal of the radioactivity incorporated against the total deoxynucleoside concentration (;isotope-dilution plots'), values were obtained for (a) the V(max.) of the rate-limiting step governing incorporation of the deoxynucleoside, and (b) the concentration of the pool of compounds competing with the radioactive deoxynucleoside at that rate-limiting step. From changes in these values under different experimental conditions inferences were drawn on the position and control of the rate-limiting step within intact cells. 2. Isotope-dilution plots for deoxycytidine were linear, whereas plots for thymidine were bimodal, indicating an abrupt increase in both the V(max.) and pool concentration at a critical thymidine concentration (approx. 5mum). The bimodality was removed by amethopterin. The V(max.) determined with deoxy[U-(14)C]cytidine was approximately equal to the sum of the V(max.) determined with deoxy[5-(3)H]cytidine and the V(max.) determined with [Me-(3)H]thymidine at thymidine concentrations above 5mum. 3. The thymidine competitor pool at thymidine concentrations above 5mum was approximately equal to the sum of the deoxycytidine competitor pool and the thymidine competitor pool at thymidine concentrations below 5mum. The pools were independent of cell concentration and dependent on serum concentration. 4. These results were explained on the following basis. Deoxycytidine in serum (16mum) is the major source of both cytosine and, by way of thymidylate synthetase, thymine, in the DNA of thymus cells. Serum deoxycytidine normally maintains a sufficient intracellular concentration of dTTP to inhibit partially the activity of thymidine kinase. When the dTTP concentration is lowered, either by decreasing the concentration of deoxycytidine or by inhibiting thymidylate synthetase, the activity of thymidine kinase increases. The activity of thymidine kinase may also be increased by concentrations of thymidine greater than 5mum, which overcome the inhibition of the enzyme by dTTP. At concentrations of thymidine below 5mum, thymidine kinase limits the rate of labelling with [Me-(3)H]thymidine and the radioactivity is diluted by a pool of unlabelled thymidine in serum (4mum). At thymidine concentrations greater than 5mum, the activity of DNA polymerase limits the rate of labelling and the radioactivity is diluted both by serum thymidine and, indirectly, by serum deoxycytidine.
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PMID:Isotope-dilution analysis of rate-limiting steps and pools affecting the incorporation of thymidine and deoxycytidine into cultured thymus cells. 427 11

Cultured Chinese hamster ovary cells showed no significant change in generation time or fraction in the S-phase in the presence of 1 mM N(6),O(2')-dibutyryl adenosine 3':5'-cyclic monophosphate. Growth continued for at least two generations after expression of the morphological transformation induced by this cyclic AMP analog. Despite identical growth rates, apparent rates of DNA and RNA synthesis (incorporation of [(3)H]-thymidine or [(3)H]uridine) were reduced up to 15-fold in log phase by 1 mM cyclic nucleotide. [(3)H]Deoxycytidine incorporation was much less sensitive to dibutyryl cyclic AMP. Uptake studies with [(3)H]thymidine demonstrated an inhibition of transport rate dependent on the concentration of dibutyryl cyclic AMP in the growth medium. The rate of thymidine uptake at 1 degrees was decreased 21-fold by 1 mM cyclic nucleotide; half-maximal inhibition occurred at 6 muM. At 37 degrees , the pool size of acid-soluble thymidylate was strongly reduced by 1 mM cyclic nucleotide, and synergistic reduction of the pool size was found with 0.5 mM aminophylline. Phosphorylation of the acid-soluble intracellular label was unaffected by dibutyryl cyclic AMP. Inhibition of thymidine uptake is attributed to an observed decrease in thymidine kinase activity caused by growth in 1 mM dibutyryl cyclic AMP, and possibly to a simultaneous alteration in membrane permeability. Kinase-facilitated uptake of other metabolites may be regulated in a similar fashion by cyclic AMP.
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PMID:Alteration of nucleoside transport of Chinese hamster cells by dibutyryl adenosine 3':5'-cyclic monophosphate. 434 4

Deoxycytidine (dC) deaminase activity has been previously reported to be induced in herpes simplex virus (HSV)-infected cells (Chan, 1977). In contrast, we report here that HSV infection of either hamster cells naturally deficient in this enzyme activity or mouse cells containing a low level of activity never resulted in appearance of stimulation of dC deaminase, whereas thymidine kinase (TK) was always induced. Surprisingly, dC deaminase activity, which differed by electrophoretic mobility from the mouse or human cell enzyme, was discovered in some cells selected for the presence of HSV TK after infection with u.v.-irradiated HSV. Evidence is presented which suggests that the appearance of this new enzyme was not due to the presence of virus genes but rather to mycoplasma contamination.
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PMID:Analysis of deoxycytidine (dC) deaminase activity in herpes simplex virus-infected or HSV TK-transformed cells: association with mycoplasma contamination but not with virus infection. 627 19

Thymidine kinase (ATP : thymidine 5'-phosphotransferase, EC 2.7.1.21), purified to apparent homogeneity from human liver, was found to have Michaelis constants for thymidine and ATP of 5 and 90 microM, respectively. Based on studies of initial velocity and product inhibition, the enzyme kinetic mechanism is compatible with an ordered sequential reaction with thymidine binding first and thymidine monophosphate released last. The activity of various triphosphate nucleosides as phosphate donors for human liver thymidine kinase showed little specificity with ATP greater than CTP greater than UTP greater than GTP and the respective Michaelis constants ranged from 0.10 to 0.30 mM. Among various purine and pyrimidine compounds, only TTp and dCTP were effective inhibitors of the enzyme. Inhibition with TTP was competitive with respect to both thymidine and ATP with Ki values of 13.5 and 8.5 microM, respectively, while the inhibition produced by dCTP was complex. Deoxycytidine was found to be an effective nucleoside substrate for human liver thymidine kinase with a Michaelis constant of 6 microM. This finding suggests that human mitochondrial deoxycytidine and thymidine kinase activity is a single protein.
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PMID:Kinetic mechanism and inhibition of human liver thymidine kinase. 728 1

Deoxycytidine nucleoside analogs must be first phosphorylated to become active anticancer drugs. The rate-limiting enzyme in this pathway is deoxycytidine kinase (dCK). Cells deficient in this enzyme are resistant to these analogs. To evaluate the potential of dCK to be used as suicide gene for deoxycytidine nucleoside analogs, we transduced both human A-549 lung carcinoma and murine NIH3T3 fibroblast cell lines with this gene. The dCK-transduced cells showed an increase in cytotoxicity to the analogs, cytosine arabinoside (ARA-C), and 5-aza-2'-deoxycytidine (5-AZA-CdR). Unexpectedly, the related analog, 2',2'-difluorodeoxycytidine (dFdC), was less cytotoxic to the dCK-transduced cells than the wild-type cells. For the A-549-dCK cells, the phosphorylation of dFdC by dCK was much greater than control cells. In accord with the elevated enzyme activity, we observed a 6-fold increased dFdC incorporation into DNA and a more pronounced inhibition of DNA synthesis in the A-549-dCK cells. In an attempt to clarify the mechanism of dFdC, we investigated its action on A549 and 3T3 cells transduced with both cytidine deaminase (CD) and dCK. We reported previously that overexpression of CD confers drug resistance to deoxycytidine analogs. In this study, when the CD-transduced cells were also transduced with dCK they became relatively more sensitive to dFdC. In addition, we observed that dFdU, the deaminated form of dFdC, was cytotoxic to the A-549-dCK cells, but not the wild-type cells. Our working hypothesis to explain these results is that the mitochondrial thymidine kinase (TK2), an enzyme reported to phosphorylate dFdC, acts as an important modulator of dFdC-induced cell toxicity. These findings may further clarify the action of dFdC and the mechanism by which it induces cell death.
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PMID:Cytotoxic activity of 2',2'-difluorodeoxycytidine, 5-aza-2'-deoxycytidine and cytosine arabinoside in cells transduced with deoxycytidine kinase gene. 1205 82

In order to obtain general metabolic profiles of pyrimidine ribo- and deoxyribonucleotides in potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) plants, the in situ metabolic fate of various (14)C-labelled precursors in disks from growing potato tubers was investigated. The activities of key enzymes in potato tuber extracts were also studied. The following results were obtained. Of the intermediates in de novo pyrimidine biosynthesis, [(14)C]carbamoylaspartate was converted to orotic acid and [2-(14)C]orotic acid was metabolized to nucleotides and RNA. UMP synthase, a bifunctional enzyme with activities of orotate phosphoribosyltransferase (EC 2.4.2.10) and orotidine 5'-monophosphate decarboxylase (EC 4.1.1.23), exhibited high activity. The rates of uptake of pyrimidine ribo- and deoxyribonucleosides by the disks were high, in the range 2.0-2.8 nmol (g FW)(-1) h(-1). The pyrimidine ribonucleosides, uridine and cytidine, were salvaged exclusively to nucleotides, by uridine/cytidine kinase (EC 2.7.1.48) and non-specific nucleoside phosphotransferase (EC 2.7.1.77). Cytidine was also salvaged after conversion to uridine by cytidine deaminase (EC 3.5.4.5) and the presence of this enzyme was demonstrated in cell-free tuber extracts. Deoxycytidine, a deoxyribonucleoside, was efficiently salvaged. Since deoxycytidine kinase (EC 2.7.1.74) activity was extremely low, non-specific nucleoside phosphotransferase (EC 2.7.1.77) probably participates in deoxycytidine salvage. Thymidine, which is another pyrimidine deoxyribonucleoside, was degraded and was not a good precursor for nucleotide synthesis. Virtually all the thymidine 5'-monophosphate synthesis from thymidine appeared to be catalyzed by phosphotransferase activity, since little thymidine kinase (EC 2.7.1.21) activity was detected. Of the pyrimidine bases, uracil, but not cytosine, was salvaged for nucleotide synthesis. Since uridine phosphorylase (EC 2.4.2.3) activity was not detected, uracil phosphoribosyltransferase (EC 2.4.2.9) seems to play the major role in uracil salvage. Uracil was degraded by the reductive pathway via beta-ureidopropionate, but cytosine was not degraded. The activities of the cytosine-metabolizing enzymes observed in other organisms, pyrimidine nucleoside phosphorylase (EC 2.4.2.2) and cytosine deaminase (EC 3.5.4.1), were not detected in potato tuber extracts. Operation of the de novo synthesis of deoxyribonucleotides via ribonucleotide reductase and of the salvage pathway of deoxycytidine was demonstrated via the incorporation of radioactivity from both [2-(14)C]cytidine and [2-(14)C]deoxycytidine into DNA. A novel pathway converting deoxycytidine to uracil nucleotides was found and deoxycytidine deaminase (EC 3.5.4.14), an enzyme that may participate in this pathway, was detected in the tuber extracts.
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PMID:Profiles of pyrimidine biosynthesis, salvage and degradation in disks of potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) tubers. 1224 48