Nitrotyrosine

Protein tyrosine nitration results in a post-translational modification that is increasingly receiving attention as an important component of nitric oxide signaling. While multiple nonenzymatic mechanisms are known to be capable of producing nitrated tyrosine residues, most tyrosine nitration events involve catalysis by metalloproteins such as myeloperoxidase, eosinophilperoxidase, myoglobin, the cytochrome P-450s, superoxide dismutase and prostacyclin synthase. Various studies have shown that protein tyrosinenitration is limited to specific proteins and that the process is selective. For example, exposure of human surfactant protein A (SP-A) to oxygen-nitrogen intermediates generated by activated alveolar macrophages resulted in specific nitration of SP-A at tyrosines 164 and 166, while addition of 1.2 mMCO 2 resulted in additional nitration at tyrosine 161. The presence of nitrotyrosine-containing proteins has shown high correlation to disease states such as atherosclerosis, Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.