Identification of an unstable 4-hydroxynoneal modification on the 20S proteasome subunit α7 by recombinant antibody technology.

Numerous cellular functions rely on an active proteasome allowing degradation of damaged or misfolded proteins. Therefore changes in the proteasomal activity have important physiological consequences. During oxidative stress the production of free radicals can result in the formation of 4-hydroxynonenal (HNE) following lipid peroxidiation.

Identification of 6-furfuryladenine (kinetin) in human urine.

In contrast to the current view of kinetin (K, N(6)-furfuryladenine) as an unnatural and synthetic cytokinin, recently it has been identified in plant DNA and plant extract. Here we describe identification of K in human urine using chromatography/mass-spectrometry analysis for the first time. The amount of kinetin in urine taken from unhealthy patients lung carcinoma was established to be 0.

Kinetin inhibits protein oxidation and glycoxidation in vitro.

We tested the ability of N(6)-furfuryladenine (kinetin) to protect against oxidative and glycoxidative protein damage generated in vitro by sugars and by an iron/ascorbate system. At 50 microM, kinetin was more efficient (82% inhibition) than adenine (49% inhibition) to inhibit the bovine serum albumin (BSA)-pentosidine formation in slow and fast glycation/glycoxidation models. Kinetin also inhibited the formation of BSA-carbonyls after oxidation significantly more than adenine did.

[8-oxoguanosine as a marker of neoplastic process in brain].

Reactive oxygen species are toxic and cancerogenic factors to living organisms. They are suggested to cause DNA damage (modification) that triggers cancer development. It seems that oxidative damage product 8-oxo-deoxyguanosine (8-oxo-dG) which induces transversion of G to T could be a good chemical marker for cancerogenesis.

Some unusual nucleic acid bases are products of hydroxyl radical oxidation of DNA and RNA.

There are over 100 modified bases and their derivatives found in RNA and DNA. For some of them, data concerning their properties, synthesis and roles in cellular metabolism are available, but for others the knowledge of their functions and biosynthetic pathways is rather limited. We have analysed the chemical structure of modified nucleosides of DNA and RNA considering mainly their putative synthetic routes.