| Description | SAICAR, also known as succinylaminoimidazolecarboxamide ribotide or phosphoribosylaminoimidazolesuccinocarboxamide, is a substrate for the multifunctional protein ADE2. SAICAR is an intermediate in purine metabolism. SAICAR is converted from 5-aminoimidazole-4-carboxyribonucleotide (CAIR) via phosphoribosylaminoimidazolesuccinocarboxamide synthetase (EC: 6.3.2.6) or SAICAR synthase. This enzyme catalyzes the eighth step in the biosynthesis of purine nucleotides. SAICAR (a ribotide) can lose its phosphate group leading to the appearance of a riboside known as succinylaminoimidazolecarboxamide riboside (SAICAriboside) in cerebrospinal fluid, in urine, and, to a lesser extent, in plasma. This particular riboside (called SAICAr) is characteristic of a heritable deficiency known as adenylosuccinate lyase deficiency (ADSL). On the other hand, the ribotide (SAICAR) is generally harmless and is an essential intermediate in purine metabolism. When present in sufficiently high levels, SAICAR can act as an oncometabolite. An oncometabolite is a compound that promotes tumour growth and survival. As an oncometabolite, high levels of SAICAR stimulate pyruvate kinase isoform M2 and promote cancer cell survival in glucose-limited conditions such as aerobic glycolysis (PMID: 23086999 ). |
|---|
| InChI Identifier | InChI=1S/C13H19N4O12P/c14-10-7(11(22)16-4(13(23)24)1-6(18)19)15-3-17(10)12-9(21)8(20)5(29-12)2-28-30(25,26)27/h3-5,8-9,12,20-21H,1-2,14H2,(H,16,22)(H,18,19)(H,23,24)(H2,25,26,27)/t4?,5-,8-,9-,12-/m1/s1 |
|---|
