The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
May. 28, 2002
Filed:
Dec. 04, 1998
David Munn, Augusta, GA (US);
Andrew Mellor, Augusta, GA (US);
Medical College of Georgia Research Institute, Inc., Augusta, GA (US);
Abstract
A high affinity and extremely selective tryptophan transport system present in human monocyte-derived macrophages is disclosed. Human monocyte-derived macrophages include two distinct transporters, a high affinity (Km=290±160 nM) transporter that is highly specific for tryptophan and a low affinity (Km=27±4 &mgr;M) transporter that is less specific for tryptophan, consistent with the known system L. The tryptophan transport system is predominantly (86%) sodium-independent. The high-affinity system is very specific for tryptophan and shows no transport of any other essential amino acids in the tryptophan transport concentration range. This high-affinity system is expressed at very low levels in fresh monocytes, but undergoes a 10-30 fold induction during macrophage differentiation. This high affinity, tryptophan-selective transport system allows macrophages to take up tryptophan efficiently under conditions of very low substrate concentration, such as can occur at sites of inflammation.