Project description:Comparisons among breast cancer metastases at different organs revealed distinct microenvironments as characterized by cytokine content. Such microenvironment distinction might be important to dictate how the cancer cells adapt to survival before they successfully colonize. This SuperSeries is composed of the following subset Series:; GSE14017: Metastases of breast cancer (U133plus2); GSE14018: Metastases of breast cancer (U133A) Experiment Overall Design: Refer to individual Series
Project description:Kynureninase is a member of a large family of catalytically diverse but structurally homologous pyridoxal 5'-phosphate (PLP) dependent enzymes known as the aspartate aminotransferase superfamily or alpha-family. The Homo sapiens and other eukaryotic constitutive kynureninases preferentially catalyze the hydrolytic cleavage of 3-hydroxy-l-kynurenine to produce 3-hydroxyanthranilate and l-alanine, while l-kynurenine is the substrate of many prokaryotic inducible kynureninases. The human enzyme was cloned with an N-terminal hexahistidine tag, expressed, and purified from a bacterial expression system using Ni metal ion affinity chromatography. Kinetic characterization of the recombinant enzyme reveals classic Michaelis-Menten behavior, with a Km of 28.3 +/- 1.9 microM and a specific activity of 1.75 micromol min-1 mg-1 for 3-hydroxy-dl-kynurenine. Crystals of recombinant kynureninase that diffracted to 2.0 A were obtained, and the atomic structure of the PLP-bound holoenzyme was determined by molecular replacement using the Pseudomonas fluorescens kynureninase structure (PDB entry 1qz9) as the phasing model. A structural superposition with the P. fluorescens kynureninase revealed that these two structures resemble the "open" and "closed" conformations of aspartate aminotransferase. The comparison illustrates the dynamic nature of these proteins' small domains and reveals a role for Arg-434 similar to its role in other AAT alpha-family members. Docking of 3-hydroxy-l-kynurenine into the human kynureninase active site suggests that Asn-333 and His-102 are involved in substrate binding and molecular discrimination between inducible and constitutive kynureninase substrates.
Project description:Comparisons among breast cancer metastases at different organs revealed distinct microenvironments as characterized by cytokine content. Such microenvironment distinction might be important to dictate how the cancer cells adapt to survival before they successfully colonize. Experiment Overall Design: 58 breast cancer metastases from different organs were profiled and compared by the expression level of over 400 cytokines. 29 samples were incuded in this series. 29 others as well as 7 in the present series were profiled on U133A platforms and included in series GSE14018.