Asparaginase is an antineoplastic agent used in combination therapy for acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). The asparaginase activity measured in serum reflects the effectiveness of the drug. However, the wide inter-individual variability in the pharmacokinetics of asparaginase suggests that the serum activity should be closely monitored in patients during therapy. In order to identify patients...

The pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, efficacy and safety of a new recombinant E. coli-asparaginase preparation were evaluated in infants (<1 year of age) with de novo acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Twelve patients were treated according to the INTERFANT-06 protocol and received up to 10,000 U/m(2) recombinant asparaginase as intravenous infusions on days 15, 18, 22, 25, 29 and 33 of remission...

The diverse applications of L-asparaginase have led us to explore new sources of this enzyme. Arthrospira platensis has been scarcely reported as a new candidate for L-asparaginase production. In the present study, we localized L-asparaginase in A. platensis and enhanced its production. Enzyme localization was conducted by culturing cells in SOT medium and extracting the enzymes from different ...

Asparaginase is a chemotherapeutic agent used to induce disease remission in children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). We describe the cases of two females with ALL who developed pseudohyponatremia as a presentation of hypertriglyceridemia following asparaginase treatment. Nine similar published cases of asparaginase-induced hypertriglyceridemia and its complications are also discussed....

The modulation of methotrexate polyglutamylation by L-asparaginase has been examined in mice bearing sublines of leukemia L5178Y that have different sensitivities to asparaginase. A single i.p. injection of 200 IU/kg of asparaginase completely inhibited ascites tumor cell growth in the parental L5178Y/S+ tumor for 120 h compared to 72 and 30 h in the L5178Y/S and L5178Y/S+/- sublines, respectiv...

Over the recent years glutaminase free L-asparaginase has gained more importance due to better therapeutic properties for treatment of acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Actinomycetes are known for L-asparaginase activity. In the current study, 80 actinomycetes were isolated from various soil habitats by serial dilution technique. Presence of L-asparaginase was investigated in a total of 240 actinom...

Treatment with the antileukemic agent asparaginase can induce acute pancreatitis, but the pathophysiology remains obscure. In the liver of mice, eukaryotic initiation factor 2 (eIF2) kinase general control nonderepressible 2 (GCN2) is essential for mitigating metabolic stress caused by asparaginase. We determined the consequences of asparaginase treatment on the pancreata of wild-type (WT, GCN2...

Asparaginase (Elspar) is used in the treatment of acute lymphoblastic leukemia. It depletes plasma asparagine and glutamine, killing leukemic lymphoblasts but also causing immunosuppression. The objective of this work was to assess whether supplementing the diet with glutamine modifies the effect of asparaginase on normal lymphocyte populations in the spleen, thymus, and bone marrow. Mice consu...

L-asparaginase production was investigated in the filamentous fungi Aspergillus tamarii and Aspergillus terreus. The fungi were cultivated in medium containing different nitrogen sources. A. terreus showed the highest L-asparaginase (activity) production level (58 U/L) when cultivated in a 2% proline medium. Both fungi presented the lowest level of L-asparaginase production in the presence of g...

Homogenization of guinea pig liver in isotonic sucrose solution followed by the separation of the subcellular fractions by differential centrifugation releases the liver L-asparaginase (L-asparagine amidohydrolase, EC 3.5.1.1) activity into the supernatant fraction. Electron micrographs of the liver L-asparaginase-antibody complexes, precipitated from the clear supernatant phase by addition of ...