Argininosuccinate synthetase (ASS), a key enzyme to synthesize arginine is down regulated in many tumors including hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Similar to previous reports, we have found the decrease in ASS expression in poorly differentiated HCC. These ASS(-) tumors are auxotrophic for arginine. Pegylated arginine deiminase (ADI-PEG20), which degrades arginine, has shown activity in these t...

BACKGROUND: In this study the possible toxic effects of prolonged administration of three of the widely used food coloring agents are tested. METHODS: Adult female albino rats were administered amaranth (4.7 and 47 mg/kg body weight), sunset yellow (31.5 and 315 mg/kg bwt.) and curcumin (15.75 and 157.5 mg/kg bwt.) at doses equal to and 10 times the acceptable daily intake (ADI). Following whic...

Lactobacillus sakei is one of the most important lactic acid bacteria of meat and fermented meat products. It is able to degrade arginine with ammonia and ATP production by the arginine deiminase pathway (ADI). This pathway is composed of three enzymes: arginine deiminase, ornithine transcarbamoylase and carbamate kinase, and an arginine transport system. The transcription of the ADI pathway is...

A computationally efficient numerical method is developed for solving sea ice momentum equations that employ a nonlinear viscous-plastic rheology. The method is based on an alternating direction implicit (ADI) technique that involves a direct solution of the momentum equations. This method is therefore more computationally efficient than those employing an iterative procedure in solving the equ...

The purpose of this study was to assess the health risk associated with dietary intake of sulfites for Taiwanese general consumers by conducting a total diet study (TDS). We evaluated the exposure of Taiwanese to sulfites in the diet and its associated health risk. This study used a list of 128 food items representing 83% of the total daily diet. Among the 128 food items, 59 items may contain s...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE The ADI is the imaging diagnostic clue to AAA subluxation of the cervical spine. Some MR imaging findings other than abnormal ADI relate to AAA subluxation. However, their relationship is not yet clarified. The present study elucidates the role of MR imaging by employing these previously overlooked findings. MATERIALS AND METHODS This study enrolled 40 patients with AAA...

It has been shown that melanoma cells do not express argininosuccinate synthetase (ASS) and therefore are unable to synthesize arginine from citrulline. Depleting arginine using pegylated arginine deiminase (ADI-PEG20) results in cell death in melanoma but not normal cells. This concept was translated into clinical trial and responses were seen. However, induction of ASS expression does occur w...

The strategy of enzymatic degradation of amino acids to deprive malignant cells of important nutrients is an established component of induction therapy of acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Here we show that acute myeloid leukemia (AML) cells from most patients with AML are deficient in a critical enzyme required for arginine synthesis, argininosuccinate synthetase-1 (ASS1). Thus, these ASS1-deficie...

The arginine deiminase (ADI) pathway converts L-arginine into L-ornithine and yields 1 mol of ATP per mol of L-arginine consumed. The L-arginine/L-ornithine exchanger in the pathway takes up L-arginine and excretes L-ornithine from the cytoplasm. Analysis of the genomes of 1281 bacterial species revealed the presence of 124 arc gene clusters encoding the pathway. About half of the clusters cont...

Within ecosystems that are poor in carbohydrates, alternative substrates such as arginine may be of importance to coagulase-negative staphylococci (CNS). However, the versatility of arginine conversion in CNS remains largely uncharted. Therefore, a set of 86 strains belonging to 17 CNS species was screened for arginine deiminase (ADI), arginase, and nitric oxide synthase (NOS) activities, in vi...