Neuron Specific Enolase, NSE Protein (Active)

The enolases (phosphopyruvate hydratase) catalyze the interconversion of 2-phosphoglycerate to phosphoenolpyruvate in the glycolytic pathway. The functional enzyme is a dimer made up of subunits referred to as alpha, beta, and gamma. Gamma-enolase, also known as enolase 2 (ENO2) or neuron specific enolase (NSE), is an enzyme that in humans is encoded by the ENO2 gene. ENO2 is the major form found in mature neurons and in cells of neuronal origin. The homozygous deletions in passenger genes in cancer deletions can expose cancer-specific therapeutic vulnerabilities when the collaterally deleted gene is a member of a functionally redundant family of genes carrying out an essential function. The glycolytic gene ENO1 in the 1p36 locus is deleted in glioblastoma, which is tolerated by the expression of ENO2. The short-hairpin-RNA-mediated silencing of ENO2 selectively inhibits growth, survival and the tumorigenic potential of ENO1-deleted GBM cells, and that the enolase inhibitor phosphonoacetohydroxamate is selectively toxic to ENO1-deleted GBM cells relative to ENO1-intact GBM cells or normal astrocytes.

Muller, F. L., Colla, S., Aquilanti, E., Manzo, V. E., Genovese, G., Lee, J., Eisenson, D., Narurkar, R., Deng, P., Nezi, L., Lee, M. A., Hu, B., and 10 others. Passenger deletions generate therapeutic vulnerabilities in cancer. Nature 488: 337-342, 2012.