The human asparaginase enzyme (ASPG) inhibits growth in leukemic cells.
basic_science · Level V
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- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 28542249.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1371/journal.pone.0178174 and PMC identifier 5443537.
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Abstract
The human protein ASPG is an enzyme with a putative antitumor activity. We generated in bacteria and then purified a recombinant GST-ASPG protein that we used to characterize the biochemical and cytotoxic properties of the human ASPG. We demonstrated that ASPG possesses asparaginase and PAF acetylhydrolase activities that depend on a critical threonine residue at position 19. Consistently, ASPG but not its T19A mutant showed cytotoxic activity in K562, NALM-6 and MOLT-4 leukemic cell lines but not in normal cells. Regarding the mechanism of action of ASPG, it was able to induce a significant apoptotic death in K562 cells. Taken together our data suggest that ASPG, combining different enzymatic activities, should be considered a promising anti-cancer agent for inhibiting the growth of leukemia cells.
Medical subject headings
- Antineoplastic Agents
- Asparaginase
- Leukemia