Fhits (fragile histidine triad proteins) occur in eukaryotes but their function is largely unknown, although human Fhit is believed to act as a tumour suppressor. Fhits also exhibit dinucleoside triphosphatase, adenylylsulfatase and nucleoside phosphoramidase activities that in each case yield nucleoside 5'-monophosphate as a product. Due to the dinucleoside triphosphatase activity, Fhits may a...

The fragile histidine triad (FHIT) gene at chromosome 3p14.2 is a tumor suppressor gene that is altered mainly by deletion in a large fraction of human tumors, including breast cancers. To evaluate the potential of FHIT gene therapy in this type of cancer, we have studied the biological effects of adenoviral FHIT transduction (Ad-FHIT) in breast cancer cell lines. The results showed that, after...

Although many studies have investigated the functions of histidine triad nucleotide-binding protein 1 (HINT1), its roles in neurobiological processes remain to be fully elucidated. As a member of the histidine triad (HIT) enzyme superfamily, HINT1 is distributed in almost every organ and has both enzymatic and nonenzymatic activity. Accumulating clinical and preclinical evidence suggests that H...

FHIT (fragile histidine triad), a candidate tumour suppressor gene, has recently been identified at chromosomal region 3p14.2, and deletions of the gene have been reported in many types of human cancer. However, the biological function of the Fhit protein has not been fully characterized yet. Using the yeast two-hybrid screen to search for proteins that interact with Fhit in vivo, we identified...

The "Rosetta Stone" hypothesis proposes that the existence of a fusion protein in some organisms predicts that the separate polypeptides function in the same biochemical pathway in other organisms and may physically interact. In Drosophila melanogaster and Caenorhabditis elegans, NitFhit protein is composed of two domains, a fragile histidine triad homolog and a bacterial and plant nitrilase ho...

The FRA3B, at 3p14.2, lies within the fragile histidine triad (FHIT) gene and is the most highly expressed of the common fragile sites observed when DNA replication is perturbed by aphidicolin. Common fragile sites are highly unstable regions of the genome. Large intragenic deletions within FHIT, localized within the FRA3B sequences, have been identified in a variety of tumor cells. To characte...