Disease relevance of tetrahydropteridine

• Moreover, those tumor cells that were more resistant to ALP cytotoxicity (pleomorphic glioma, 78-FR-G-219/S4) had a 3-fold higher tetrahydropteridine-dependent cleavage activity than a more cytotoxic sensitive line (astrocytoma cells, 78-FR-G-299) [1].
• Comparison of the microsomal activities of the tetrahydropteridine-dependent alkyl-cleavage enzyme present in astrocytoma 78-FR-G-299 cells and the pleomorphic glioma 78-FR-G-219/S4 cells to that found in normal skin fibroblasts and rat livers revealed a markedly reduced activity in the neoplastic cell lines [1].

High impact information on tetrahydropteridine

• The tyrosine-3-monooxygenase activity [L-tyrosine, tetrahydropteridine: oxygen oxidoreductase (3-hydroxylating); EC 1.14.16.2] of rat adrenal medulla is induced 20-24 hr after the injection of reserpine (16 mumol/kg intraperitoneally) [2].
• Preincubation of ALP (rac-1-octadecyl-lyso-glycero-3-phosphocholine) for more than 8 min with a tetrahydropteridine-dependent O-alkyl cleavage enzyme preparation from rat liver microsomes destroyed almost all of the cytotoxic properties of ALP when tested at a concentration that previously inhibited tumor growth by more than 50% [1].
• Dix and Benkovic (Dix, T. A., and Benkovic, S. J. (1985) Biochemistry 24, 5839-5846) have postulated that the formation of this intermediate only occurs when the oxidation of the tetrahydropteridine is tightly coupled to the concomitant hydroxylation of the aromatic amino acid [3].
• Methotrexate, which inhibits the phenylalanine hydroxylase system by preventing regeneration of the tetrahydropteridine cofactor, caused parallel inhibition of the in vivo assay as well as when the conversion of phenylalanine to tyrosine was measured in liver slices [4].
• Like tetrahydropteridines, hydrogen peroxide at concentrations comparable to those found in tetrahydropteridine-treated cultures affected gene expression and cell survival, whereas increasing intracellular tetrahydrobiopterin levels by sepiapterin did not [5].

Anatomical context of tetrahydropteridine

• Tyrosine hydroxylase [L-tyrosine, tetrahydropteridine: oxygen oxidoreductase (3-hydroxylating); EC 1.14.16.2](TH) was purified from bovine corpus striatum [6].
• In the present study, we investigated the effect of 2-MDTIQ on tyrosine hydroxylase [L-tyrosine, tetrahydropteridine, oxygen: oxidoreductase (3-hydroxylating). EC 1.14.16.2; TH] activity in vitro using homogenated tissue of the rat nucleus accumbens as enzyme source [7].

Associations of tetrahydropteridine with other chemical compounds

• Tryptophan 5-hydroxylase (EC 1.14.16.4; L-tryptophan tetrahydropteridine: oxygen oxidoreductase) was purified to electrophoretic homogeneity from whole brain supernatant using the following steps: pteridine-argarose affinity chromatography, hydrophobic and finally hydroxyapatite chromatography [8].
• The possibility is discussed that 6-AN interferes with the biosynthesis of catecholamines, when it blocks the pentose phosphate pathway, by decreasing the supply of reducing equivalents in the form of NADPH which are necessary for the tetrahydropteridine cofactors of tyrosine hydroxylase [9].

Gene context of tetrahydropteridine

• This system is readily extractable and displays many characteristics of phenylalanine hydroxylase systems described in other organisms, the most notable being that a tetrahydropteridine is required for full expression of activity [10].

References