Engineering Kinases to Phosphorylate Nucleoside Analogs for Antiviral and Cancer Therapy.

ABSTRACT: Enzyme engineering by directed evolution presents a powerful strategy for tailoring the function and physicochemical properties of biocatalysts to therapeutic and industrial applications. Our laboratory's research focuses on developing novel molecular tools for protein engineering, as well as on utilizing these methods to customize enzymes and to study fundamental aspects of their structure and function. Specifically, we are interested in nucleoside and nucleotide kinases which are responsible for the intracellular phosphorylation of nucleoside analog (NA) prodrugs to their biologically active triphosphates. The high substrate specificity of the cellular kinases often interferes with prodrug activation and consequently lowers the potency of NAs as antiviral and cancer therapeutics. A worki

SUBMITTER: Lutz S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2839369 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature