Dr. Sahin-Toth Publishes Paradigm-shifting Study in JBC

Professor Dr. Miklos Sahin-Toth and his co-workers Research Associate Dr. Richárd Szmola, and Postdoctoral Fellows Drs. Melinda Bence and Andras Szabo have recently published a new study on what Dr. Sahin-Toth refers to as, “paradigm-shifting in the field of digestive enzyme regulation.”

"In this study we demonstrate that full activation of human digestive procarboxypeptidases A1 and A2 requires not only trypsin but chymotrypsin C as well,” said Dr. Sahin-Toth. “If we generalize the findings, they suggest that intestinal digestive enzyme activation is not exclusively governed by trypsin but other digestive enzymes, chymotrypsin C in particular, also contribute to the regulation of digestive enzyme activity. This is a shift from the classic textbook paradigm, which states that all digestive proenzymes are converted by trypsin to their active form and active digestive enzymes do not interact with each other." 

These studies form part of Dr. Sahin-Toth’s research program on the role of chymotrypsin C in human digestive physiology and chronic pancreatitis, funded by an NIH-NIDDK R01 grant and two ARRA supplements. The study was a collaborative effort with essential contributions from Postdoctoral Fellow Dr. Andrea Carpentieri, Professor Dr. John Samuelson, and BUSM Professor Cathy E. Costello. 

The paper, “Chymotrypsin C Is a Co-activator of Human Pancreatic Procarboxypeptidases A1 and A2,” appeared in the January 21 issue of the Journal of Biological Chemistry. PubMed link: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21098023