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The expression and activity of cystathionine-γ-lyase and 3-mercaptopyruvate sulfurtransferase in human neoplastic cell lines

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Abstract

The expression and activity of cystathionine γ-lyase (CST) and 3-mercaptopyruvate sulfurtransferase (MPST) were investigated in the human neoplastic cells lines: astrocytoma U373, neuroblastoma SH-SY5Y, melanoma A375, and melanoma WM35. Gene expression analysis demonstrated that the investigated neoplastic cells showed the expression of MPST and what is particularly interesting, the expression of CST. The presence of CST in these cells was confirmed using RT-PCR and western blot analysis. However, in U373 cells, a very low activity of CST was detected. In all the investigated cell lines, the activity of MPST was higher than that of CST, which suggests that in these cells, the main pathway of sulfane sulfur formation is the MPST-catalyzed reaction. RP-HPLC analysis showed a large disparity between the level of cystathionine and GSH in the investigated neoplastic cells. In SH-SY5Y cells, the low level of GSH and low GSH/GSSG ratio corresponded with the highest CST activity. Further investigations could aim at verifying whether the stimulation of CST, at the level of protein or gene expression, could change the proliferation of neoplastic cells.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by a grant from the National Committee for Scientific Research (KBN) No K/ZBW/000147 and K/ZDS/000450.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Chair of Medical Biochemistry, Jagiellonian University Medical College, Kopernika 7 St, 31-034, Kraków, Poland

    Halina Jurkowska, Wojciech Placha & Maria Wróbel

  2. Department of Environmental Medicine, Nippon Medical School, Tokyo, Japan

    Noriuki Nagahara

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  1. Halina Jurkowska
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  2. Wojciech Placha
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  3. Noriuki Nagahara
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  4. Maria Wróbel
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Correspondence to Maria Wróbel.

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Jurkowska, H., Placha, W., Nagahara, N. et al. The expression and activity of cystathionine-γ-lyase and 3-mercaptopyruvate sulfurtransferase in human neoplastic cell lines. Amino Acids 41, 151–158 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00726-010-0606-3

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