Asparagine Synthetase (E6C2C) RmAb (Alexa Fluor 647)

Asparagine synthetase (ASNS) catalyzes the synthesis of asparagine from aspartate and glutamine. Research studies have shown that intracellular asparagine can suppress apoptosis in a large number of human tumors. In addition, ASNS expression levels have been associated with the progression of gliomas and neuroblastomas in patients (1). Furthermore, acute lymphocytic leukemia cells frequently depend upon serum asparagine for their viability, as they lack ASNS (2). Deprivation of asparagine by L-asparaginase has therefore been developed as a therapeutic treatment for acute lymphocytic leukemia (2,3). In subsets of gastric and hepatic cancers, ASNS promoter hypermethylation correlates with low ASNS expression, sensitizing these cancers to the asparaginase treatment (4). 1.Zhang, J. et al. (2014) Mol Cell 56, 205-18. 2.Gwinn, D.M. et al. (2018) Cancer Cell 33, 91-107.e6. 3.Loayza-Puch, F. et al. (2016) Nature 530, 490-4. 4.Li, H. et al. (2019) Nat Med 25, 850-60. 5.Nakamura, A. et al. (2018) Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 115, E7776-E7785.