Transfer of "goods" from plants to humans: Fundamental and applied biochemical investigations on retaining glycosidases

The studies described in this thesis deal with glycosidases, in particular alpha-galactosidases. Activity-based probes are a versatile research tool in many of the investigations on glycosidases and are examined regarding diagnostic application. A specific element of the thesis investigations is the focus on plants, either as source of endogenous glycosidases as well as production platform for therapeutic human enzymes.Medical Biochemistr

Plant Glycosides and Glycosidases: A Treasure-Trove for Therapeutics

Plants contain numerous glycoconjugates that are metabolized by specific glucosyltransferases and hydrolyzed by specific glycosidases, some also catalyzing synthetic transglycosylation reactions. The documented value of plant-derived glycoconjugates to beneficially modulate metabolism is first addressed. Next, focus is given to glycosidases, the central theme of the review. The therapeutic value of plant glycosidases is discussed as well as the present production in plant platforms of therapeutic human glycosidases used in enzyme replacement therapies. The increasing knowledge on glycosidases, including structure and catalytic mechanism, is described. The novel insights have allowed the design of functionalized highly specific suicide inhibitors of glycosidases. These so-called activity-based probes allow unprecedented visualization of glycosidases cross-species. Here, special attention is paid on the use of such probes in plant science that promote the discovery of novel enzymes and the identification of potential therapeutic inhibitors and chaperones.Bio-organic SynthesisMedical Biochemistr

Simultaneous quantitation of sphingoid bases by UPLC-ESI-MS/MS with identical13C-encoded internal standards

Free sphingoid bases (lysosphingolipids) of primary storage sphingolipids are increased in tissues and plasma of several sphingolipidoses. As shown earlier by us, sphingoid bases can be accurately quantified using UPLC-ESI-MS/MS, particularly in combination with identical13C-encoded internal standards. The feasibility of simultaneous quantitation of sphingoid bases in plasma specimens spiked with a mixture of such standards is here described. The sensitivity and linearity of detection is excellent for all examined sphingoid bases (sphingosine, sphinganine, hexosyl-sphingosine (glucosylsphingosine), hexosyl2-sphingosine (lactosylsphingosine), hexosyl3-sphingosine (globotriaosylsphingosine), phosphorylcholine-sphingosine) in the relevant concentration range and the measurements show very acceptable intra- and inter-assay variation (<10% average). Plasma samples of a series of male and female Gaucher Disease and Fabry Disease patients were analyzed with the multiplex assay. The obtained data compare well to those earlier determined for plasma globotriaosylsphingosine and glucosylsphingosine in GD and FD patients. The same approach can be also applied to measure sphingolipids in the same sample. Following extraction of sphingolipids from the same sample these can be converted to sphingoid bases by microwave exposure and subsequently quantified using13C-encoded internal standards.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Alpha-d-Gal-cyclophellitol cyclosulfamidate is a Michaelis complex analog that stabilizes therapeutic lysosomal alpha-galactosidase A in Fabry disease

Fabry disease is an inherited lysosomal storage disorder that is characterized by a deficiency in lysosomal α-D-galactosidase activity. One current therapeutic strategy involves enzyme replacement therapy, in which patients are treated with a recombinant enzyme. Co-treatment with enzyme active-site stabilizers is advocated to increase treatment efficacy, a strategy that requires effective and selective enzyme stabilizers. Here, we describe the design and development of an α-D-gal-cyclophellitol cyclosulfamidate as a new class of neutral, conformationally constrained competitive glycosidase inhibitors that act by mimicry of the Michaelis complex conformation. We found that D-galactose-configured α-cyclosulfamidate 4 effectively stabilizes recombinant human α-D-galactosidase (agalsidase beta, Fabrazyme®) both in vitro and in cellulo.Bio-organic SynthesisMedical Biochemistr

Chile: mitos y realidades de una transición

Medical BiochemistryBio-organic Synthesi