l-2-Haloacid dehalogenase (DehL) from Rhizobium sp. RC1 is a stereospecific enzyme that acts exclusively on l-isomers of 2-chloropropionate and dichloroacetate. The amino acid sequence of this enzyme is substantially different from those of other l-specific dehalogenases produced by other organisms. DehL has not been crystallised, and hence its three-dimensional structure is unavailable. Herein...

As a result of a spectrum of mitochondrial defects, tumor cells often preferentially use glycolysis to generate adenosine triphosphate (ATP), even in the presence of oxygen, a phenomenon known as aerobic glycolysis, or the "Warburg effect." Dichloroacetate (DCA) is an inhibitor of mitochondrial pyruvate dehydrogenase kinase (PDK), which inhibits pyruvate dehydrogenase (PDH), a gatekeeping enzym...

Methods were developed for determination of microsomal HMG-CoA reductase activity from freshly isolated human lymphocytes, monocytes, and granulocytes or cultured human lymphoid cells. Reductase activity in monocytes is approximately twice that in lymphocytes or granulocytes. The activity in cultured cells is approximately 34-fold greater than that in freshly isolated cells. Assay conditions we...

Background Sarcomas are cancers that arise from tissues of mesenchymal origin and there has been limited improvement in treatments over the last 30 years. The Warburg effect is a widespread metabolic phenotype of cancer, where glycolysis is favoured despite the presence of oxygen. Dichloroacetate (DCA) is a pyruvate dehydrogenase kinase (PDK) inhibitor in clinical use that can reverse the Warbu...

Background While genetic testing for familial cancer has excelled, the prevention options for those carrying high risk alleles have not. Altered bioenergetics is now acknowledged as a hallmark of cancer, and several very safe drugs are available that can target this phentoype. Dichloroacetate (DCA) inactivates pyruvate dehydrogenase kinase, resulting in activation of pyruvate dehydrogenase, red...