Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0027960 (mole)
 21,279 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Rabbit skeletal muscle calsequestrin was fragmented by using trypsin in the presence and absence of calcium. Calcium ion was found to protect calsequestrin from proteolysis, and the peptides produced in the presence of calcium were stable to further digestion. Peptides produced in the presence or absence of calcium had a decreased helical content but maintained their ability to bind calcium. The amino acid sequence of a 59-residue carboxyl-terminal tryptic peptide was determined by automated Edman degradation and carboxypeptidase Y digestion of carboxyl-terminal tryptic, chymotryptic, and cyanogen bromide peptides. This peptide is highly acidic (Asp + Glu = 42%, Lys + Arg = 0), and it bound a total of 15 calcium ions per mole of peptide (Kd = 8.5 mM). The intrinsic tryptophan fluorescence of the peptide was enhanced by 10% upon binding Ca2+ with the dissociation constant of 1 mM. Analyses of the circular dichroism spectra of the peptide showed that it was primarily in a random-coil conformation with little helical (2%) and moderate beta-structure (25%) regardless of the calcium concentration. This peptide also bound 7 mol of terbium per mole of peptide with high affinity (Kd = 7.5 microM).
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PMID:Fragmentation of rabbit skeletal muscle calsequestrin: spectral and ion binding properties of the carboxyl-terminal region. 342 87

Several lysosomal proteases including cathepsins B, D, H and L have been found to play a role in the metastasis of tumor cells. However, up to now no information on the role of cathepsin A, a lysosomal multifunctional peptidase, in the proliferative, invasive, and metastatic potential of malignant tumors has been available. In the present study we compared the activity of cathepsin A in lysates of 34 human melanocytic tumors: primary (n = 12) and metastatic (n = 5) malignant melanoma, dysplastic pigmented nevi (n = 6) and pigmented nevi without evidence of dysplastic melanocytes (n = 11). The carboxypeptidase activity of cathepsin A was assayed at pH 5.0 with its specific substrate Cbz-Phe-Ala. The amount of released C-terminal alanine was measured by the ninhydrin method. We found that lysates of primary malignant melanoma lesions exhibited significantly higher cathepsin A activity than lysates of dysplastic and normal pigmented nevi. The cathepsin A activity in lysates of metastatic lesions of malignant melanoma was significantly higher than in primary focus lysates. It seems that cathepsin A may play a role in malignant transformation and metastatic dissemination of malignant melanoma.
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PMID:Cathepsin A activity in primary and metastatic human melanocytic tumors. 1074 58

Profilin from bovine spleen was nitrated with peroxynitrite; immunoblotting and spectrophotometric quantitation of nitrotyrosine residues suggested nitration of a single tyrosine residue in profilin with a stoichiometry of 0.6 mol of nitrotyrosine/mole of profilin. A decrease in the nitrotyrosine immunoreactivity of nitroprofilin during digestion with carboxypeptidase Y indicated that nitrotyrosine is located at the C-terminus of profilin. Nitroprofilin interaction with ligands such as phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate, actin and poly (l-proline) was analyzed by monitoring the tryptophan fluorescence. Scatchard plot and binding isotherm data obtained revealed no significant difference in affinity of nitroprofilin to phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate (K(d) of 4.8 +/- 0.5 muM for profilin, and K(d) of 5.7 +/- 0.6 muM for nitroprofilin), while poly (l-proline) binding studies revealed a twenty-fold increase in the affinity of profilin to poly (l-proline) upon nitration (K(d) of 21.8 +/- 1.7 muM for profilin, and K(d) of 1.1 +/- 0.1 muM for nitroprofilin). Actin polymerization studies involving pyrene-labeled actin indicated that profilin nitration inhibits the actin sequestering property of profilin. The critical actin monomer concentration (C(c)) was 150 and 250 nM in the presence of nitroprofilin and profilin, respectively. Thus, nitric oxide and free radicals produced under different conditions could alter the functions of profilin through nitration, such as its interaction with actin and poly (l-proline).
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PMID:Nitration of profilin effects its interaction with poly (L-proline) and actin. 1642 97