Purine Nucleoside Phosphorylase, Or Adenosine Deaminase (Lesch-Nyhan Syndrome/Immunodeficiency) L
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Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA Vol. 75, No. 8, pp. 3722 -3726, August 1978 Biochemistry Purine metabolism in cultured human fibroblasts derived from patients deficient in hypoxanthine phosphoribosyltransferase, purine nucleoside phosphorylase, or adenosine deaminase (Lesch-Nyhan syndrome/immunodeficiency) L. F. THOMPSON*, R. C. WILLIS*, J. W. STOOPt, AND J. E. SEEGMILLER* * Department of Medicine, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093; and t University Children's Hospital, Het Wilhelmina Kinderziekenhuis, Nieuwe Gracht 137, Utrecht, The Netherlands Contributed by J. Edwin Seegmiller, June 8, 1978 ABS14RACT Rates of purine synthesis de novo, as measured tive, high molecular weight form. Thus, either an increase in by the incorporation of [4C]formate into newly synthesized the concentration of PP-ribose-P or a decrease in the levels of purines, have been determined in cultured human fibroblasts derived from normal individuals and from patients deficient inhibitory nucleotides could potentially accelerate the rate of in adenosine deaminase, purine nucleoside phosporylase, or purine synthesis de novo and result in purine "overproduction." hypoxanthine phosphoribosyltransferase, three consecutive This communication concerns the study of purine metabolism enzymes of the purnne salvage pathway. All four types of cell in cultured human fibroblasts deficient in each of three en- lines are capable of incorporating [14C]formate into purines at zymes of the purine salvage pathway and attempts to define approximately the same rate when the assays are conducted in better a "normal" rate of purine synthesis de novo as compared purine-free medium. The purine overproduction that is char- to In particular, we have attempted acteristic of a deficiency in either the transferase or the phos- purine "overproduction." phorylase and that results from a block in purine reutilization to rectify the previously reported discrepancy in rates of purine can be demonstrated by the resistance of [14Clformate incor- synthesis de now in patients deficient in PNP and in their poration into purines to inhibition by hypoxanthine in the case cultured cells (1). of hypoxanthine phosphoribosyltransferase-deficient fibroblasts The three enzyme deficiencies studied are: HPRT, PNP, and and by resistance to inhibition by inosine in the case of purine adenosine deaminase (ADA). A lack of the enzyme HPRT (17) nucleoside phosphorylast-deficient fibroblasts. leads to the Lesch-Nyhan syndrome (2) with its characteristic Human cells in culture utilize purines derived from two met- neurological dysfunction and purine overproduction de novo abolic routes-either by synthesis de nowo beginning with 5- resulting in pronounced hyperuricemia. A lack of PNP (18) phosphoribosyl-1-pyrophosphate (PP-ribose-P) and glutamine results in an immunodeficiency disease with a specific defect or by "salvage" from PP-ribose-P and purines present in the in T-cell function as well as purine overproduction de novo; medium or arising from the intracellular degradation of nucleic however, hypouricemia rather than hyperuricemia is seen acids. Individuals who lack purine nucleoside phosphorylase because purine catabolism stops with the formation of purine (PNP) or hypoxanthine phosphoribosyltnferase (HPRT), two nucleosides. Large quantities of inosine and guanosine and consecutive enzymes of the purine salvage pathway, synthesize smaller amounts of the corresponding deoxynucleosides are purines de novo at an accelerated rate (1-3). Although several excreted in the urine (1, 3). ADA deficiency leads to a severe cell culture systems have been devised to demonstrate the pu- combined immunodeficiency with T-cell and usually B-cell rine overproduction characteristic of patients with a deficiency dysfunction (19). No purine overproduction has been found in of HPRT (4-8), none has been devised to show the comparable patients lacking ADA (20). overproduction in PNP deficiency. The mechanism by which the rate of purine synthesis de novo is controlled has been the MATERUILS AND METHODS subject of intensive study by numerous investigators. It is be- Source and Growth of Cells. Fibroblasts were grown from lieved to involve the regulation of PP-ribose-P synthetase or foreskins obtained from apparently normal male infants or from PP-ribose-P amidotransferase, the enzymes which catalyze the skin biopsies obtained from normal volunteers or from patients first two reactions of this pathway. In Ehrlich ascites tumor cells, deficient in HPRT, ADA (20), or PNP (3). Fibroblast cultures the rate of synthesis of PP-ribose-P has been shown to be in- were routinely maintained in Eagle's minimal essential medium versely related to the concentration of adenine and guanine supplemented with 10% fetal calf serum, 2 mM glutamine, nucleotides (9). Partially purified human PP-ribose-P synthetase penicillin (100 units/ml), and streptomycin (100 ,ug/ml). In has been shown to be inhibited by ADP and AMP (10). The some experiments, the medium was supplemented with fetal activity of PP-ribose-P amidotransferase and of the de novo calf serum that had been extensively dialyzed against 0.9% pathway as a whole may be controlled by the intracellular levels NaCl. Low serum medium contained AutoPow minimal es- of PP-ribose-P and of adenine and guanine nucleotides (4, sential medium (Flow Laboratories), supplemented with 0.1% 11-16). PP-ribose-P is normally present at concentrations well fetal calf serum, 2 mM glutamine, penicillin (100 units/ml), below the Km for the enzyme. It also converts the human en- streptomycin (100 ;g/ml), 4% bovine serum albumin, trans- zyme to its more active, low molecular weight form. Adenine ferrin (5'Mg/ml), and 4% (vol/vol) Coon's F-12 medium (minus and guanine nucleotides act as inhibitors of the partially puri- hypoxanthine, thymidine, and folic acid) (21). fied enzyme and also convert the human enzyme to its less ac- Rate of Purine Synthesis De Novo. Confluent fibroblasts The costs of publication of this article were defrayed in part by the Abbreviations: PP-ribose-P, 5-phosphoribosyl 1-pyrophosphate; HPRT, payment of page charges. This article must therefore be hereby marked hypoxanthine phosphoribosyltransferase; PNP, purine nucleoside "advertisement" in accordance with 18 U. S. C. §1734 solely to indicate phosphorylase; ADA, adenosine deaminase; Hepes, 4-(2-hydroxy- this fact. ethyl)-l-piperazineethanesulfonic acid. 3722 Downloaded by guest on September 27, 2021 Biochemistry: Thompson et al. Proc. Nat!. Acad. Sci. USA 75(1978) 3723 were trypsinized, plated at a density of approximately 3 X 105 cells per 35-mm dish in minimal essential medium containing 30,OOC en 0% dialyzed fetal calf serum, and allowed to grow in a3if Z incubator maintained at 5% CO2 and 95% air for 15-20 hr. Two C) 0 3 or hr prior to the initiation of the experiment, the cells were le20,00C washed three times with medium supplemented with 40 mM x x' sodium 4- (2- hydroxyethyl) - 1- piperazineethanesulfonate (Hepes), pH 7.4, and any appropriate additions, overlaid with m l0,000 -- - 0.6 ml of the same medium, and allowed to equilibrate in 5% E=Is m CO2 and 95% air. The assay was begun by the addition of 5 c) ACi - of [14C]formate (60AGCi/Mmol) per dish and terminated by as- l piration of the medium and subsequent addition of 1 ml of 0.4 11,800 18,800 4,700 11,200 13,500 M HC104 to extract the intracellular purines. In some experi- ±5,600 ±7,700 ±2,000 ±2,000 ±5,500 ments the newly synthesized purines excreted into the medium A B C D E were also quantitated after precipitation of protein with 0.4 M FIG. 1. Rates of incorporation of ['4Clformate into acid-soluble HC104. In either case, the deproteinized solution was heated intracellular purines by normal, HPRT-, PNP-, and ADA- fibro- to 1000 for 1 hr, and the free purine bases were separated by blasts. The method is the standard assay as described in Materials chromatography on Dowex-50 and quantitated by liquid and Methods with medium supplemented with either 1096 dialyzed or fetal calf serum C). scintillation counting as described by Hershfield and Seegmiller (columns A, B, D, and E) undialyzed (column The results are a compilation of data obtained from multiple assays (22). Each time point required three dishes: two for duplicate using three normal fibroblast lines, four HPRT-deticient lines, one determination of the amount of ['14C]formate incorporated into PNP-deficient line, and two ADA-deficient lines. The mean +SD for total acid-soluble intracellular purines and one for the deter- each group of assays is indicated at the bottom of the appropriate column. Columns: A, normal; B, HPRT-; C, HPRT+; D, ADA-; E, mination- of cell numbers. PNP-. Cell Extracts and Enzyme Assays. ADA was assayed by a modification of the procedure of Snyder etal. (23) but with 100 mM Tris-HCl (pH 7.0) as buffer, which eliminated the further case, the rate of incorporation is 4-5 times greater for HPRT- conversion of the product inosine to hypoxanthine. PNP activity cells. PNP and ADA- fibroblasts showed. rates of ['4C]formate was measured by the same procedure, but with 100mM sodium incorporation that were diminished to the same extent as in phosphate (pH 7.4) as buffer and 300 AM f8-14C]inosine as control cells when the assays were conducted in medium sup- substrate. Protein concentrations were determined by the plemented with 10% undialyzed fetal calf serum (data not method of Lowry et al. (24). shown). In all four types of cell lines, the rate of incorporation Cell extracts were prepared from one 75-cm2 flask of con- of ['4C]formate was increased by an additional 25-60% when fluent fibroblasts. The cells were washed three times with a the amount of newly synthesized purines excreted into the buffer containing 0.04 M sodium Hepes (pH 7.4), 0.13 M NaCl, medium was also examined. The proportion of newly synthe- 0.4% bovine serum albumin, 100AM MgCl2, and 10 gM CaC12, sized purines excreted in the medium was approximately the and were lysed by freezing and thawing three times in liquid same in all four types of cell lines, but varied from experiment nitrogen.