Caracterização bioquímica da enzima timidina fosforilase humana como alvo para o desenvolvimento racional de novos candidatos a fármacos para a quimioterapia do câncer

Abstract

Human thymidine phosphorylase (hTP) also known as platelet-derived endothelial cell growth factor (PD-ECGF) or gliostatin, has an important role in nucleotide metabolism. hTP is a molecular target for anticancer drug development since it is overexpressed in certain solid tumours, and its catalityc activity has been shown to be essencial to promote angiogenesis. This work describes amplification, cloning, and recombinant expression in E. coli, purification to homogeinity of both precursor and mature protein hTP. Mass spectrometry analysis confirmed the identity of homogeneous hTP and size exclusion chromatography showed that hTP proteins are a dimer in solution. Kinetic studies allowed the determination of apparent and true kinetic constants for forward reaction, and showed that enzymes displayed substrate inhibition for thymidine. Initial velocity and isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC) studies suggested that hTP catalysis follows a rapid-equilibrium random bi-bi kinetic mechanism. Thermodynamics constants and discrimination profile allowed natural enzyme s substrates/products binding patterns identification. Additionally, these studies showed differences in the kinetic constants and the thermodynamic parameters between the precursor and the mature protein and these differences were revealed by structural analysis using molecular modeling. The pH-rate profiles suggested that maximal enzyme activity was achieved at low pH values, and functional groups with a pK values of 5.1 5.2 and 9.0 9.2 are involved in thymidine binding, and groups with pK value of 6.1 6.2 and 7.8 8.6 are involved in phosphate binding. The enzyme characterization provides additional data that may be useful for the rational design of novel inhibitors hTP. Chemical compounds designed and synthesized as potential inhibitors against hTP activity were active in both forms of the enzyme, whereas the compound 5g showed the best inhibitory potential. The compound 5g was characterized as noncompetitive inhibitor towards hTP substrates thymidine and phosphate. The noncompetitive inhibiton mechanism points to the existence of an allosteric binding site at hTP, different from the substrate binding sites. This allosteric site could be considered an important molecular target for the development of potent and selective hTP inhibitors.