title: Presence of D-aspartate and D-glutamate in tumor proteins.
abstract: Over 50 years ago Kögl and Erxleben reported that tumor proteins contain appreciable amounts of D-amino acids. This postulate remained highly controversial for several years, during which time several researchers either supported or refuted the hypothesis. We have analyzed several sets of tumors and normal control tissues for the presence of D-aspartate (D-Asp) and D-glutamate (D-Glu). Most tumors contain less D-Asp than the control tissues, whereas nearly half of the tumors contain 1.6 to 5.4 times more D-Glu than the controls. The tumors averaged 0.72% D-Asp and 0.61% D-Glu compared to 0.94% D-Asp and 0.35% D-Glu in the control tissues. However, within the limits of experimental error, there is no significant difference in the level of these D-amino acids between the tumors and normal tissues.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Barry University, Miami Shores, FL 33161, USA.
authors.forename: G H
authors.initials: GH
authors.lastname: Fisher
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Torres
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bruna
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Cerwinski
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Martin
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Bergljung
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gruneiro
authors.forename: S J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Chou
authors.forename: E H
authors.initials: EH
authors.lastname: Man
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pappatheodorou
mesh_terms: D001224:Aspartic Acid / Q000032:analysis*; D018698:Glutamic Acid / Q000032:analysis*; D006801:Humans; D009363:Neoplasm Proteins / Q000737:chemistry*; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000737:chemistry; D013237:Stereoisomerism
chemical_list: D009363:Neoplasm Proteins; D001224:Aspartic Acid; D018698:Glutamic Acid