Thymidylate Synthetase
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Thymidylate synthase (TS) () is an
enzyme An enzyme () is a protein that acts as a biological catalyst by accelerating chemical reactions. The molecules upon which enzymes may act are called substrate (chemistry), substrates, and the enzyme converts the substrates into different mol ...
that catalyzes the conversion of
deoxyuridine monophosphate Deoxyuridine monophosphate (dUMP), also known as deoxyuridylic acid or deoxyuridylate in its conjugate acid and conjugate base forms, respectively, is a deoxynucleotide. It is an intermediate in the metabolism of deoxyribonucleotides. Biosynthes ...
(dUMP) to
deoxythymidine monophosphate Thymidine monophosphate (TMP), also known as thymidylic acid (conjugate base thymidylate), deoxythymidine monophosphate (dTMP), or deoxythymidylic acid (conjugate base deoxythymidylate), is a nucleotide that is used as a monomer in DNA. It is an ...
(dTMP).
Thymidine Thymidine (nucleoside#List of nucleosides and corresponding nucleobases, symbol dT or dThd), also known as deoxythymidine, deoxyribosylthymine, or thymine deoxyriboside, is a pyrimidine nucleoside, deoxynucleoside. Deoxythymidine is the DNA nuc ...
is one of the
nucleotides Nucleotides are Organic compound, organic molecules composed of a nitrogenous base, a pentose sugar and a phosphate. They serve as monomeric units of the nucleic acid polymers – deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and ribonucleic acid (RNA), both o ...
in DNA. With inhibition of TS, an imbalance of
deoxynucleotides A deoxyribonucleotide is a nucleotide that contains deoxyribose. They are the monomeric units of the informational biopolymer, deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA). Each deoxyribonucleotide comprises three parts: a deoxyribose sugar (monosaccharide), a nitr ...
and increased levels of
dUMP Deoxyuridine monophosphate (dUMP), also known as deoxyuridylic acid or deoxyuridylate in its conjugate acid and conjugate base forms, respectively, is a deoxynucleotide. It is an intermediate in the metabolism of deoxyribonucleotides. Biosynthes ...
arise. Both cause DNA damage.


Function

The following reaction is catalyzed by thymidylate synthase: : 5,10-methylenetetrahydrofolate + dUMP \rightleftharpoons dihydrofolate + dTMP By means of reductive
methylation Methylation, in the chemistry, chemical sciences, is the addition of a methyl group on a substrate (chemistry), substrate, or the substitution of an atom (or group) by a methyl group. Methylation is a form of alkylation, with a methyl group replac ...
,
deoxyuridine monophosphate Deoxyuridine monophosphate (dUMP), also known as deoxyuridylic acid or deoxyuridylate in its conjugate acid and conjugate base forms, respectively, is a deoxynucleotide. It is an intermediate in the metabolism of deoxyribonucleotides. Biosynthes ...
(dUMP) and N5,N10-methylene tetrahydrofolate are together used to form dTMP, yielding
dihydrofolate Dihydrofolic acid (conjugate base dihydrofolate) (DHF) is a folic acid ( vitamin B9) derivative which is converted to tetrahydrofolic acid by dihydrofolate reductase. Since tetrahydrofolate is needed to make both purines and pyrimidines, which a ...
as a secondary product. This provides the sole de novo pathway for production of dTMP and is the only enzyme in folate metabolism in which the 5,10-methylenetetrahydrofolate is oxidised during one-carbon transfer. The enzyme is essential for regulating the balanced supply of the 4 DNA precursors in normal DNA replication: defects in the enzyme activity affecting the regulation process cause various biological and genetic abnormalities, such as thymineless death. The enzyme is an important target for certain chemotherapeutic drugs. Thymidylate synthase is an enzyme of about 30 to 35 k Da in most species except in protozoan and plants where it exists as a bifunctional enzyme that includes a dihydrofolate reductase domain. A cysteine residue is involved in the catalytic mechanism (it covalently binds the 5,6-dihydro-dUMP intermediate). The sequence around the active site of this enzyme is conserved from phages to vertebrates. Thymidylate synthase is induced by a transcription factor LSF/
TFCP2 Alpha-globin transcription factor CP2 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the ''TFCP2'' gene. TFCP2 is also called Late SV40 factor (LSF) and it is induced by well-known oncogene AEG-1. LSF also acts as an oncogene in hepatocellular carcin ...
and LSF is an
oncogene An oncogene is a gene that has the potential to cause cancer. In tumor cells, these genes are often mutated, or expressed at high levels.
in
hepatocellular carcinoma Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most common type of primary liver cancer in adults and is currently the most common cause of death in people with cirrhosis. HCC is the third leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. HCC most common ...
. LSF and Thymidylate synthase plays significant role in Liver Cancer proliferation and progression and Drug resistance.


Clinical significance

Thymidylate synthase (TS) plays a crucial role in the early stages of
DNA Deoxyribonucleic acid (; DNA) is a polymer composed of two polynucleotide chains that coil around each other to form a double helix. The polymer carries genetic instructions for the development, functioning, growth and reproduction of al ...
biosynthesis. DNA damage or deletion occur on a daily basis as a result of both endogenous and environmental factors. Such environmental factors include
ultraviolet Ultraviolet radiation, also known as simply UV, is electromagnetic radiation of wavelengths of 10–400 nanometers, shorter than that of visible light, but longer than X-rays. UV radiation is present in sunlight and constitutes about 10% of ...
damage and cigarette smoke that contain a variety of carcinogens. Therefore, synthesis and insertion of healthy DNA is vital for normal body functions and avoidance of cancerous activity. In addition, inhibition in synthesis of important
nucleotides Nucleotides are Organic compound, organic molecules composed of a nitrogenous base, a pentose sugar and a phosphate. They serve as monomeric units of the nucleic acid polymers – deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and ribonucleic acid (RNA), both o ...
necessary for cell growth is important. For this reason, TS has become an important target for cancer treatment by means of
chemotherapy Chemotherapy (often abbreviated chemo, sometimes CTX and CTx) is the type of cancer treatment that uses one or more anti-cancer drugs (list of chemotherapeutic agents, chemotherapeutic agents or alkylating agents) in a standard chemotherapy re ...
. The sensitivity of TS to succumb to TS inhibitors is a key part to its success as treatment for colorectal, pancreatic, ovarian, gastric, and breast cancers.


Using TS as a drug target

The use of TS inhibitors has become a main focus of using TS as a drug target. The most widely used inhibitor is
5-fluorouracil Fluorouracil (5-FU, 5-fluorouracil), sold under the brand name Adrucil among others, is a cytotoxic chemotherapy medication used to treat cancer. By intravenous injection it is used for treatment of colorectal cancer, oesophageal cancer, stoma ...
(5-FU) and its metabolized form 5-fluorodeoxyuridine monophosphate (5-FdUMP), which acts as an
antimetabolite An antimetabolite is a chemical that inhibits the use of a metabolite, which is another chemical that is part of normal metabolism. Such substances are often similar in structure to the metabolite that they interfere with, such as the antifolat ...
that irreversibly inhibits TS by competitive binding. However, due to a low level of 5-FU found in many patients, it has been discovered that in combination with
leucovorin Folinic acid, also known as leucovorin, is a medication used to decrease the toxic effects of methotrexate and pyrimethamine. It is also used in combination with 5-fluorouracil to treat colorectal cancer and pancreatic cancer, may be used to t ...
(LV), 5-FU has greater success in down regulating tumor progression mechanisms and increasing immune system activity. Experimentally, it has been shown that low levels of TS expression leads to a better response to 5-FU and higher success rates and survival of colon and liver cancer patients. However, additional experiments have merely stated that levels of TS may be associated with stage of disease,
cell proliferation Cell proliferation is the process by which ''a cell grows and divides to produce two daughter cells''. Cell proliferation leads to an exponential increase in cell number and is therefore a rapid mechanism of tissue growth. Cell proliferation ...
and tumor differentiation for those with lung
adenocarcinoma Adenocarcinoma (; plural adenocarcinomas or adenocarcinomata ; AC) is a type of cancerous tumor that can occur in several parts of the body. It is defined as neoplasia of epithelial tissue that has glandular origin, glandular characteristics, or ...
but low levels are not necessarily indicators of high success. Expression levels of TS
mRNA In molecular biology, messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) is a single-stranded molecule of RNA that corresponds to the genetic sequence of a gene, and is read by a ribosome in the process of Protein biosynthesis, synthesizing a protein. mRNA is ...
may be helpful in predicting the malignant potential of certain cancerous cells, thus improving cancer treatment targets and yielding higher survival rates among cancer patients ashimoto TS's relation to the cell cycle also contributes to its use in cancer treatment. Several cell-cycle dependent
kinases In biochemistry, a kinase () is an enzyme that catalysis, catalyzes the transfer of phosphate groups from High-energy phosphate, high-energy, phosphate-donating molecules to specific Substrate (biochemistry), substrates. This process is known as ...
and
transcription factors In molecular biology, a transcription factor (TF) (or sequence-specific DNA-binding factor) is a protein that controls the rate of transcription of genetic information from DNA to messenger RNA, by binding to a specific DNA sequence. The fun ...
influence TS levels in the cell cycle that increase its activity during the
S phase S phase (Synthesis phase) is the phase of the cell cycle in which DNA is replicated, occurring between G1 phase and G2 phase. Since accurate duplication of the genome is critical to successful cell division, the processes that occur during S ...
but decrease its activity while cells are no longer proliferating. In an auto-regulatory manner, TS not only controls its own translation but that of other proteins such as p53 that through mutation is the root of much tumor growth. Through its translation, TS has a varying expression in cancer cells and tumors, which leads to early cell death.


Interactive pathway map


Mechanism description

In the proposed mechanism, TS forms a covalent bond to the substrate dUMP through a 1,4-addition involving a cysteine nucleophile. The substrate tetrahydrofolate donates a methyl group to the alpha carbon while reducing the new methyl on dUMP to form dTMP. It has been proven that the imine formed through reaction with THF and dUMP is an intermediate in the reaction with dUMP through mutations in the structure of TS that inhibit the completion of the mechanism. V316Am TS, a mutant with deletion of C terminal valines from both subunits, allows the catalysis of dehalogenation of BrdUMP preceding the mechanism described above and the covalent bond to THF and dUMP. The mutant TS is unable to accomplish the C-terminal conformational change needed to break covalent bonds to form dTMP, thus showing the proposed mechanism to be true. The structure was deduced through x-ray crystallography of V316Am TS to illustrate full homodimer TS structure (Figure 1). In addition, it showed possible interactions of the 175Arg and 174Arg between dimers. These arginines are thought to stabilize the UMP structures within the active sites by creating hydrogen bonds to the phosphate group (Figure 2). troud and Finer-Moore5-FU is an inhibitor of TS. Upon entering the cell, 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) is converted to a variety of active metabolites, intracellularly. One such metabolite is FdUMP which differs from dUMP by a fluorine in place of a hydrogen on the alpha carbon. FdUMP is able to inhibit TS by binding to the nucleotide-binding site of dUMP. This competitive binding inhibits the normal function of dTMP synthesis from dUMP ongley Thus the dUMP is unable to have an elimination reaction and complete the methyl donation from THF. Figure 1. This figure depicts the homodimer that is TS. As you can see the orange and teal backbones never connect or intertwine, but there are side chains interactions between the dimers. On the orange protein, you can visibly detect two long side chains that enter the teal protein (this is located within the yellow circle). The other beige parts are side chains that interact within the active site. Just below the yellow circle, you are able to see the same pattern of side chains and configuration. Figure 2. This figure shows the possible H-bond interactions between the arginines and the UMP in the active site of thymidylate synthase. This can be seen by the faint lines between the blue tips and the red tips. These arginines are used to hold the position of the UMP molecule so that the interaction may occur correctly. The two arginines in the top right corner that are located next to each other on the back bone are actually from the other protein of this dimer enzyme. This interaction is one of the many intermolecular forces that holds these two tertiary structures together. The yellow stand in the top-middle region shows a sulfur bond that forms between a cysteine side chain and UMP. This covalently holds the UMP within the active site until it is reacted to yield TMP.


See also

* Pyrimidine analogues * Thymidylate synthase inhibitor *
Thymidine kinase Thymidine kinase is an enzyme, a phosphotransferase (a kinase): 2'-deoxythymidine kinase, ATP-thymidine 5'-phosphotransferase, EC 2.7.1.21. It can be found in most living cells. It is present in two forms in mammalian cells, TK1 and TK2. Cert ...
* Thymidine kinase in clinical chemistry *
Thymidylate kinase Thymidylate kinase (; dTMP kinase) catalyzes the phosphorylation of thymidine 5'-monophosphate (dTMP) to form thymidine 5'-diphosphate (dTDP) in the presence of ATP and magnesium: : ATP + thymidine 5'-phosphate \rightleftharpoons ADP + thymidi ...


References


Further reading

* * * * * * *


External links

*
PDBe-KB
provides an overview of all the structure information available in the PDB for Human Thymidylate synthase {{DEFAULTSORT:Thymidylate Synthase EC 2.1.1