Human lysosomal α-N-acetylgalactosaminidase (α-NAGAL) is responsible for the break down of glycolipids and glycopeptides that contain a terminal α-linked N-acetylgalactosamine residues. Deficiency of α-NAGAL results in Schindler and Kanzaki diseases. α-NAGAL is closely related to another lysosomal enzyme, α-galactosidase (α-GAL), which breaks down glycolipids and glycopeptides with a terminal α-linked galactose residues. Fabry disease results from a deficiency of α-galactosidase activity. We studied the reaction mechanism of both enzymes using biochemistry and X-ray crystallography, and found that α-GAL and α-NAGAL use an identical reaction mechanism, and differ only in substrate specificity. We solved the first structure of human α-NAGAL, allowing us to examine the disease-causing patient mutations in the context of a high-resolution 3D atomic structure, moving Schindler and Kanzaki disease into the realm of personalized molecular medicine. We then developed the first ever proof-of-principle treatment of Schindler and Kanzaki disease, by developing and characterizing 2 pharmacological chaperones that show promise to treat Schindler and Kanzaki diseases, which currently have no treatment options.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UMASS/oai:scholarworks.umass.edu:dissertations-6788 |
| Date | 01 January 2012 |
| Creators | Clark, Nathaniel E |
| Publisher | ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst |
| Source Sets | University of Massachusetts, Amherst |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Source | Doctoral Dissertations Available from Proquest |
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