Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UNIPROT:P01178 (oxytocin)
 15,767 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

The hydrolysis of oxytocin by human placental subcellular fractions was studied in the presence of selective inhibitors by measuring liberated amino acids by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Oxytocin degradation by microsomal and lysosomal fractions was inhibited by bestatin, amastatin and puromycin. The IC50 values of these inhibitors on oxytocin degradation by both fractions were similar to those of these inhibitors on the human placental aminopeptidase M measured by L-Leu-p-nitroanilide as a substrate (LAP activity), which we reported previously. However, purified aminopeptidase M from human placental microsomal fractions could not liberate any amino acid from oxytocin. Since phosphoramidon (1 mumol/l), a putative metalloendopeptidase inhibitor, and N-benzylcarbonyl-valyl-prolinal (Z-Val-prolinal) (14 mumol/l), a selective inhibitor of post-proline endopeptidase, could not significantly influence the degradation of oxytocin by either subcellular fractions, neither enzyme seems to be actively involved in oxytocin degradation. These results strongly suggested the existence of oxytocinase(s) other than the above three enzymes in microsomal and/or lysosomal fractions of human placenta.
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PMID:Degradation of oxytocin by the human placenta: effect of selective inhibitors. 135 23

Serum levels of human placental leucine aminopeptidase/oxytocinase (P-LAP) increase with gestation. cDNA cloning of P-LAP revealed that the enzyme is a type II membrane-bound protein containing the consensus HEXXH(X)18E motif found in the M1 family of zinc-metallopeptidase proteins. In this study, a recombinant soluble form of P-LAP found in maternal serum was expressed in Chinese hamster ovary cells, purified to homogeneity and then characterized. Although N-terminal sequencing revealed a four-amino-acid deletion, the purified enzyme was active and was shown to be a zinc-containing homodimeric protein with molecular mass of 280 kDa in solution. Using artificial substrates, it was shown that the enzyme has broad specificity and is inhibited by several compounds known as aminopeptidase inhibitors. Subsequently, sequential N-terminal amino-acid liberation of several peptide hormones by the enzyme was monitored and structures of the products were determined. Among the hormones having a cysteine residue at their N-terminal end and intramolecular disulfide bonds, it was found that vasopressin and oxytocin, but not calcitonin and endothelins, were cleaved by the enzyme. Because the molecular properties of oxytocinase so far reported often conflict, our results provide an initial biochemical and enzymatic characterization of moleculary defined P-LAP/oxytocinase.
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PMID:Characterization of a recombinant soluble form of human placental leucine aminopeptidase/oxytocinase expressed in Chinese hamster ovary cells. 1060 49