Structure of Human Chitotriosidase

Human Chitotriosidase Is an Endo-Processive Enzyme

Human chitotriosidase (HCHT) is involved in immune response to chitin-containing pathogens in humans. The enzyme is able to degrade chitooligosaccharides as well as crystalline chitin. The catalytic domain of HCHT is connected to the carbohydrate binding module (CBM) through a flexible hinge region. In humans, two active isoforms of HCHT are found-the full length enzyme and its truncated versio...

Structure of human chitotriosidase. Implications for specific inhibitor design and function of mammalian chitinase-like lectins.

Chitin hydrolases have been identified in a variety of organisms ranging from bacteria to eukaryotes. They have been proposed to be possible targets for the design of novel chemotherapeutics against human pathogens such as fungi and protozoan parasites as mammals were not thought to possess chitin-processing enzymes. Recently, a human chitotriosidase was described as a marker for Gaucher diseas...

Comparative functional analysis of the human macrophage chitotriosidase.

This work analyses the chitin-binding and catalytic domains of the human macrophage chitotriosidase and investigates the physiological role of this glycoside hydrolase in a complex mechanism such as the innate immune system, especially its antifungal activity. Accordingly, we first analyzed the ability of its chitin-binding domain to interact with chitin embedded in fungal cell walls using the ...

Analysis of productive binding modes in the human chitotriosidase.

Human chitotriosidase (HCHT) is a family 18 chitinase that is an innate part of the immune system. We have mapped preferred productive binding modes of chito-oligosaccharide substrates to HCHT and the data show that HCHT has strong binding affinity in the +3 subsite. Moreover, HCHT shows anomer-specific binding affinities in subsites +2 and +3. These features could endorse HCHT with higher endo...

Human chitotriosidase helps Plasmodium falciparum in the Anopheles midgut.