Work

Proper Folding and Endoplasmic Reticulum to Golgi Transport of Tyrosinase Are Induced by Its Substrates, DOPA and Tyrosine

Year: 2001
Type: article
Abstract: Tyrosinase is essential for pigmentation and is a source of tumor-derived antigenic peptides and cellular immune response. Wild type tyrosinase in melanoma cells and certain albino mutants in untransformed melanocytes are targeted to proteolytic degradation by the 26 S proteasome due to retention of the misfolded protein in the endoplasmic reticulum and its subsequent retranslocation to the cytosol. Here, we demonstrate that the substrates DOPA and tyrosine induced in melanoma cells a transition of misfolded wild type tyrosinase to the native form that is resistant to proteolysis, competent to exit the endoplasmic reticulum, and able to produce melanin. Because the enzymatic activity of tyrosinase is induced by DOPA, we propose that proper folding of the wild type protein, just like mutant forms, is tightly linked to its catalytic state. Loss of pigmentation, therefore, in tyrosinase-positive melanoma cells is a consequence of tumor-induced metabolic changes that suppress tyrosinase activity and DOPA production within these cells.
Language: English
Subfield: Cell Biology
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid: $3,430
OpenAlex ID: W2108787781
FWCI: 2.827
Cites: 44
Cited by: 90
Related to: 10