Inhibition of aspartate aminotransferase by D-hydrazinosuccinate: comparison with L-hydrazinosuccinate

Amino Acid Metabolic Vulnerabilities in Acute and Chronic Myeloid Leukemias

Amino acid (AA) metabolism plays an important role in many cellular processes including energy production, immune function, and purine and pyrimidine synthesis. Cancer cells therefore require increased AA uptake and undergo metabolic reprogramming to satisfy the energy demand associated with their rapid proliferation. Like many other cancers, myeloid leukemias are vulnerable to specific therapeutic strategies targeting metabolic dependencies. Herein, our review provides a comprehensive overview and TCGA data analysis of biosynthetic enzymes required for non-essential AA synthesis and their dysregulation in myeloid leukemias. Furthermore, we discuss the role of the general control nonderepressible 2 (GCN2) and-mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) pathways of AA sensing on metabolic vulnerability and drug resistance.

Time-dependent inhibition of gamma-aminobutyric acid aminotransferase, by 3-hydroxybenzylhydrazine

gamma-Aminobutyric acid (GABA) aminotransferase is a pyridoxal 5'-phosphate (PLP)-dependent enzyme that catalyzes the conversion of GABA into succinic semialdehyde. Hydrazine analogues have long been known to act as inactivators of PLP-dependent enzymes, including GABA aminotransferase, however, no studies of the molecular mechanism of inactivation of PLP-dependent enzymes by hydrazines have been reported. 3-Hydroxybenzylhydrazine is shown to be a potent in vitro time-dependent inhibitor of pig brain GABA aminotransferase. UV-visible and 1H NMR studies, both with GABA aminotransferase and with PLP as a chemical model for the enzyme-catalyzed reaction, indicate that 3-hydroxybenzylhydrazine reacts both enzymatically and nonenzymatically to form the 3-hydroxybenzylhydrazone of PLP without tautomerization.

In vivo inhibition of aspartate aminotransferase in mice by L-hydrazinosuccinate

L-Hydrazinosuccinate, which has been shown to be a slow-, tight-binding inhibitor of aspartate aminotransferase (EC 2.6.1.1) in vitro, was tested as an inhibitor in vivo of the enzyme as well as other pyridoxal enzymes. Intraperitoneal administration to mice at a dose of 0.6 mmol/kg rapidly decreased aspartate aminotransferase activities in liver and kidney cytosols to a minimal level lower than 10% of the original, and no appreciable reversal of the inhibition was observed after 24 h; at lower doses the activities were significantly recovered during the same period following an initial marked decrease. Of the other pyridoxal enzymes tested, alanine aminotransferase in liver was the most sensitive to the inhibitor. It was initially inhibited as severely as aspartate aminotransferase, but the inhibition was reversed considerably faster. Aspartate aminotransferase activities in brain and heart were less severely affected than those in liver and kidney; they were less markedly lowered initially and were substantially recovered after 24 h. Consistent with the observed organ specificity, heated extracts from brain and heart in the mice administered with the inhibitor showed relatively weak inhibitory activities in vitro to aspartate aminotransferase purified from pig heart, while the extracts from liver and kidney were strongly inhibitory.