Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: UMLS:C0019204 (hepatocellular carcinoma)
 71,386 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

S-Adenosylmethionine-homocysteine methyltransferase, which catalyzes synthesis of methionine from homocysteine, with the use of S-adenosylmethionine as the methyl donor, is absent in tumor tissue such as rat ascites hepatoma and Morris hepatoma but is present in rat liver homogenate. Absence of the enzymatic activity in tumor cells is not due to the action of an inhibitor. S-Adenosylhomocysteine hydrolase, however, is present in both rat liver and hepatoma tissue.
 ...
PMID:Deficiency of S-adenosylmethionine-homocysteine methyltransferase activity in hepatoma cells. 18 33

The mouse hepatoma BWTG3 has been tested for its ability to grow in three different media that select for traits normally expressed in adult liver: homocysteine medium to select for cystathionine synthase (CS), tyrosine-free medium for phenylalanine hydroxylase (PH), and ornithine medium for carbamylphosphate synthetase-I (CPS-I) and ornithine transcarbamylase (OTC). In no case were the cells immediately capable of bulk growth, showing that all these traits were in some degree deficient. However, the cultures in homocysteine medium and in tyrosine-free medium both gave rise, spontaneously, to growing clones with frequencies of approximately 10(-3) and 10(-5), respectively. The deficiencies of CS and PH were accordingly excluded from further study, in view of their inherent instability. In contrast, no colonies ever formed in ornithine medium. Though neither CPS-I nor OTC were detectable in stock BWTG3 cells, it was found that CPS-I was readily inducible by hormones. The deficiency of OTC, however, appeared to be totally stable showing no reversion in response either to hormones or to azacytidine treatment. This deficiency was investigated by fusing the hepatoma to OTC+ liver cells prepared from normal or sparse-fur (spf) mice. Sparse-fur mice were used because their OTC is mutant and has a distinctive pH-dependence. OTC+ hybrids were readily produced, without the need for any specific selection for OTC, and, in one case at least, with only minimal chromosome segregation. In all the OTC+ hybrids made with spf cells, there was clear reactivation of the wild-type, hepatoma-derived OTC gene.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
 ...
PMID:BWTG3 hepatoma cells can acquire phenylalanine hydroxylase, cystathionine synthase and CPS-I without genetic manipulation, but activation of the silent OTC gene requires cell fusion with hepatocytes. 186 Sep 1

Determination of the transient increase in plasma homocysteine following administration of excess methionine is an established procedure for the diagnosis of defects in homocysteine metabolism in patients. This so-called methionine loading test has been used for 25 years, but the knowledge of the response of various cell types to excess methionine is limited. In the present paper we investigated homocysteine export from various cell types cultured in the presence of increasing concentrations (15-1,000 microM) of methionine. For comparison of homocysteine export, the export rates per million cells were plotted versus cell density for proliferating cells, and versus time for quiescent cells. The homocysteine export from growing cells was greatest during early to mid-exponential growth phase, and then decreased as a function of cell density. The export rate was higher from phytohemagglutinin-stimulated than non-stimulated lymphocytes, and higher from proliferating than from quiescent fibroblasts. The hepatocytes showed highest export rate among the cell types investigated. The enhancement of homocysteine export by excess methionine ranged from no stimulation to marked enhancement, depending on cell type investigated, and three different response patterns could be distinguished: 1) quiescent fibroblasts and growing murine lymphoma cell showed no significant increase in homocysteine export following methionine loading; export from human lymphocytes was only slightly enhanced in the presence of excess methionine; 2) the homocysteine export from proliferating hepatoma cells and benign and transformed fibroblasts was stimulated three to eightfold by increasing the methionine concentration in the medium from 15 to 1,000 microM; and 3) the response to methionine loading was particularly increased (about 15-fold) in non-transformed primary hepatocytes in stationary culture. The results outline a potentially useful procedure for the comparison of homocysteine export during cell growth in the presence of various concentrations of methionine. The results are discussed in relation to the special feature of homocysteine metabolism in various cell types and tissues including liver, and to the possible source of plasma homocysteine following methionine loading in vivo.
 ...
PMID:Homocysteine export from cells cultured in the presence of physiological or superfluous levels of methionine: methionine loading of non-transformed, transformed, proliferating, and quiescent cells in culture. 199 19

Betaine-homocysteine- and S-adenosylmethionine-homocysteine-methyltransferases which catalyze synthesis of methionine from homocysteine are absent in tumor cells such as mouse Ehrlich ascites tumor cells and rat hepatoma AH-109A ascites cells.
 ...
PMID:Deficiency of methionine synthesis enzyme activity in ascites tumor cells. 236 13

Amino acid-defined diets deficient in methyl groups have been shown to result in a very high incidence of hepatocellular carcinoma. It has been suggested that this is a result of decreased levels of S-adenosylmethionine and the undermethylation of DNA. Accordingly, the enzyme glycine N-methyltransferase (GNMT, EC 2.1.1.20) may play a major role in maintaining the levels of S-adenosylmethionine in liver in response to changes in dietary methionine. The effect of methyl-deficient, amino acid-defined diets on GNMT activity and S-adenosylmethionine levels in rat liver was therefore investigated. When rats were fed a defined amino acid diet containing no choline in which homocysteine was substituted for the methionine of the control diet at an equimolar level, there was a rapid and marked decrease in growth rate in spite of the fact that the rats consumed 85% of the food eaten by control rats fed a nutritionally adequate, defined amino acid diet. The GNMT activity in livers of methyl-deficient rats decreased rapidly, but there was no difference in amount of GNMT protein as measured immunologically. In methyl-deficient rats, the levels of S-adenosylmethionine were maintained but the levels of S-adenosylhomocysteine were rapidly elevated compared to control values. These changes are consistent with the postulated role of GNMT in regulating methyl group metabolism.
 ...
PMID:Effect of dietary methyl group deficiency on one-carbon metabolism in rats. 270 19

The title compounds (14a,b) were 5' epimers of a derivative of a phosphonate isostere of ATP in which the CH2OP alpha system of ATP was replaced by CH(R)CH2P alpha [R = L-S(CH2)2CH(NH2)CO2H]. They resisted synthesis via attempted S-alkylation of the corresponding epimeric 5'-mercapto derivatives. A practicable route to 14a,b commenced with Michael condensation of L-homocysteine with the diphenyl ester of the 5',6'-vinyl phosphonate analogue of 2',3'-O-isopropylideneadenosine 5'-phosphate. The resulting epimeric 5' thioethers were separated by reverse-phase HPLC. The two phenyl groups were replaced by benzyl groups, after which the alpha-amino acid residue was protected as an N-Boc methyl ester. Both benzyl groups were removed by hydrogenolysis, and the resulting phosphonic acid was converted into its pyrophosphoryl derivative. Blocking groups were then removed under conditions that furnished 14a and 14b without racemization of their L-amino acid residues. Also synthesized were the P beta-NH-P gamma imido analogue (15a) of 14a and the sulfoxide derivative (16a) of 14a. The structures of 14a and 16a were verified by FAB mass spectra, which revealed the protonated molecular ions of their sodium salts. All adducts appeared to function as dual substrate site inhibitors (competitive to ATP and to methionine) of the rat normal tissue (MAT-2) form of methionine adenosyltransferase (MAT); 14a and 15a [KM(ATP)/Ki = 4 and 9, respectively] were the most effective. Adduct 15a was the most effective inhibitor [KM(ATP)/Ki = 13] of the MAT-T form from rat hepatoma tissue; the kinetic data indicated dual-site inhibition by 15a with apparently complete coverage of the ATP site and incomplete coverage of the methionine site. The inhibition properties of the adducts indicated little preference in the order in which the two MAT forms bound ATP and methionine.
 ...
PMID:Isozyme-specific enzyme inhibitors. 11. L-homocysteine-ATP S-C5' covalent adducts as inhibitors of rat methionine adenosyltransferases. 348 76

A synthesis is described of the title compound and its 5'S epimer, which are two-substrate adducts of adenosine 5'-triphosphate (ATP) and L-methionine (Met) in which the C(5')H2OP system in ATP is replaced by CH(R)CH2NHP [R = L-S(CH2)2CH(NH2)CO2H]. The 5'R epimer was a potent nonselective competitive inhibitor [averaged Ki = 0.32 microM; KM(ATP)/Ki = 440] vs. ATP of the rat M-2 (normal tissue) and M-T (Novikoff ascitic hepatoma) variants of methionine adenosyltransferase. It produced simple noncompetitive inhibition (averaged Ki = 2.7 microM) vs. Met with both variants. The 5'S epimer inhibited M-T competitively vs. ATP, but was 74-fold less effective than the 5'R epimer. Replacement of the homocysteine moiety in the 5'R epimer by hydrogen markedly reduced inhibitory potency, as indicated by Ki values of 14 microM for competitive inhibition vs. ATP and 580 microM for noncompetitive inhibition vs. Met with M-2. The data suggest that the 5'R epimer can interact simultaneously with two enzymic sites. Information on the kinetic mechanism of a human counterpart of M-2 and inhibitor properties of a previously studied Met-ATP adduct are consistent with the view that the two sites might resemble those that interact with the initial products of the reaction, S-adenosylmethionine and triphosphate.
 ...
PMID:Isozyme-specific enzyme inhibitors. 13. S-[5'(R)-[(N-triphosphoamino)methyl]adenosyl]-L-homocysteine, a potent inhibitor of rat methionine adenosyltransferases. 357 77

Cell growth using homocysteine as a source of cysteine-sulphur requires two enzymes, cystathionine synthase (CS) and gamma-cystathionase (CT). The second of these enzymes, CT, is apparently present in most cell lines regardless of their tissues of origin, since most cells can grow in vitro in the absence of cystine if they are provided with cystathionine, the intermediate in the pathway. Likewise, homocysteine will support the growth of many human cells. However, of a wide range of rodent cells, only well-differentiated rat hepatoma cells were found to grow using homocysteine in place of cystine. It is shown that cell growth in homocysteine-medium correlates well with the presence in the cells of detectable levels of CS. Furthermore, in cells able to grow in homocysteine-medium, it is possible to demonstrate the homocysteine-dependent trans-sulphuration of serine to cysteine. Growth in homocysteine-medium is not dependent on the release of preformed cysteine from disulphide complexes with serum proteins. In cell hybrids, and in 'dedifferentiated' variants of rat hepatomas, CS, but not CT, is subject to extinction coordinately with well-characterized liver-specific traits. For rodent cells, homocysteine-medium thus acts as a selective medium requiring the expression of a single liver-specific trait, CS. In addition it is shown that, in certain hepatoma variants, CS is regulated co-ordinately with a urea-cycle enzyme (carbamoyl phosphate synthetase I) by glucocorticoids and cyclic-AMP. Cell death through cysteine starvation is briefly considered. The immediate cause of death is apparently an insufficient supply of reduced glutathione. Selenium and vitamin E assist cell growth when the supply of cysteine is limiting.
 ...
PMID:Characterization of cystathionine synthase as a selectable, liver-specific trait in rat hepatomas. 379 84

Two isozymes of ATP:L-methionine S-adenosyltransferase (MAT) were fractionated from rat Novikoff solid hepatoma. Their Km values for L-methionine and/or their inhibition constants for various L-methionine analogues were significantly different from the kinetic constants obtained for three isozymes fractionated from normal rat liver. Ki values for cycloleucine and (+/-)-2-aminobicyclo[2.1.1]hexane-2-carboxylic acid, presented for each tumor and liver isozyme, indicate that (+/-)-2-aminobicyclo[2.1.1]hexane-2-carboxylic acid was the more potent inhibitor. Dixon plots were also used to test a series of amino acid analogues [cycloleucine, 1-aminocyclobutanecarboxylic acid, 1-aminocyclohexanecarboxylic acid, (+/-)-2-aminobicyclo[2.1.1]hexane-2-carboxylic acid, L-2-amino-4-hexynoic acid, (Z)-L-2-amino-5-chloro-trans-4-hexenoic acid, L-ethionine, S-n-propyl-DL-homocysteine, S-n-butyl-DL-homocysteine, and seleno-DL-ethionine] of methionine for inhibitory potency. Fixed L-methionine concentrations were used to determine the concentration of inhibitor necessary to inhibit the MAT reaction by 50%. Differential inhibitory activities of the amino acid analogues were noted between the tumor and rat liver isozymes thus supporting the suggestion that tumor-derived MAT isozymes may provide an exploitable target for cancer chemotherapy.
 ...
PMID:Chemotherapeutic potential of methionine analogue inhibitors of tumor-derived methionine adenosyltransferases. 684 99

From an hepatocarcinoma cell line (LFCL.2A), unable to grow in a culture medium in which methionine was replaced by L-homocysteine, we had previously isolated revertant clones presenting a low growth rate, a loss of tumorigenicity and an inhibition of transcription of three oncogenes: c-Ki-ras, c-Ha-ras and c-myc. Here we showed that long-term deprivation of methionine led to a depletion of spermine, while putrescine and spermidine contents remained unchanged. When the revertant cells were shifted in a medium containing methionine, the oncogene transcription (except the p53 gene) started very rapidly in parallel with an increase in the putrescine content. By contrast, spermidine and spermine contents decreased during the first hours but were not significantly different from control values after numerous subcultures in methionine-containing medium.
 ...
PMID:Polyamine content and oncogene expression in hepatoma cells in culture during methionine deprivation and refeeding. 839 Aug 3


1 2 3 4 5 6 Next >>