Abstract: |
Cytosine deaminase (CDA) is a prodrug mediating enzyme converting 5-flurocytosine into 5-flurouracil with profound
broad-range anticancer activity towards various cell lines. Availability, molecular stability, and catalytic efficiency are
the main limiting factors halting the clinical applications of this enzyme on prodrug and gene therapies, thus, screening
for CDA with unique biochemical and catalytic properties was the objective. Thermotolerant/ thermophilic fungi
could be a distinctive repertoire for enzymes with affordable stability and catalytic efficiency. Among the recovered
thermotolerant isolates, Aspergillus niger with optimal growth at 45 °C had the highest CDA productivity. The enzyme
was purified, with purification 15.4 folds, molecular mass 48 kDa and 98 kDa, under denaturing and native PAGE,
respectively. The purified CDA was covalently conjugated with dextran with the highest immobilization yield of 75%.
The free and CDA-dextran conjugates have the same optimum pH 7.4, reaction temperature 37 °C, and pI 4.5, and
similar response to the inhibitors and amino acids suicide analogues, ensuring the lack of effect of dextran conjugation
on the CDA conformational structure. CDA-Dextran conjugates had more resistance to proteolysis in response
to proteinase K and trypsin by 2.9 and 1.5 folds, respectively. CDA-Dextran conjugates displayed a dramatic structural
and thermal stability than the free enzyme, authenticating the acquired structural and catalytic stability upon dextran
conjugation. The thermal stability of CDA was increased by about 1.5 folds, upon dextran conjugation, as revealed
from the half-life time (T1/2). The affinity of CDA-conjugates (Km 0.15 mM) and free CDA (Km 0.22 mM) to deaminate
5-fluorocytosine was increased by 1.5 folds. Upon dextran conjugation, the antiproliferative activity of the CDA
towards the different cell lines “MDA-MB, HepG-2, and PC-3” was significantly increased by mediating the prodrug
5-FC. The CDA-dextran conjugates strongly reduce the tumor size and weight of the Ehrlich cells (EAC), dramatically
increase the titers of Caspase-independent apoptotic markers PARP-1 and AIF, with no cellular cytotoxic activity, as
revealed from the hematological and biochemical parameters.
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