Gennady Yegutkin

Gennady Yegutkin
University of Turku | UTU · MediCity Research Laboratory

PhD, Docent

About

131
Publications
22,582
Reads
How we measure 'reads'
A 'read' is counted each time someone views a publication summary (such as the title, abstract, and list of authors), clicks on a figure, or views or downloads the full-text. Learn more
6,541
Citations
Additional affiliations
October 1987 - April 1997
National Academy of Sciences of Belarus
Position
  • Senior Researcher
June 1998 - present
University of Turku
Position
  • Senior Scientist, Docent

Publications

Publications (131)
Preprint
Full-text available
Ecto-5’-nucleotidase (CD73) is a potential new drug target for cancer immunotherapy. Its overexpression is associated with various aggressive cancers, including triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) and pancreatic cancer, making it a promising target for diagnostic imaging. Besides antibodies, small molecule CD73 inhibitors have been developed and a...
Article
Isolated endothelial cells are valuable in vitro model for vascular research. At present, investigation of disease-relevant changes in vascular endothelium at the molecular level requires established endothelial cell cultures, preserving vascular bed-specific phenotypic characteristics. Vasa vasorum (VV) form a microvascular network around large bl...
Article
Adenosine is an evolutionary ancient metabolic regulator linking energy state to physiologic processes, including immunomodulation and cell proliferation. Tumors create an adenosine-rich immunosuppressive microenvironment through the increased release of ATP from dying and stressed cells and its ectoenzymatic conversion into adenosine. Therefore, t...
Article
Adenosine in the tumor microenvironment acts on A2A and A2B adenosine receptors (ARs) on immune cells (T cells, dendritic cells, NK cells, macrophages and neutrophils) to prevent their activation. Therefore, a means of lowering extracellular adenosine would be beneficial in cancer immunotherapy either as a co-therapy or monotherapy. Inhibitors of C...
Article
Full-text available
ATP and adenosine have emerged as important signaling molecules involved in vascular remodeling, retinal functioning and neurovascular coupling in the mammalian eye. However, little is known about the regulatory mechanisms of purinergic signaling in the eye. Here, we used three-dimensional multiplexed imaging, in situ enzyme histochemistry, flow cy...
Article
We recently reported N4-substituted 3-methylcytidine-5'-α,β-methylenediphosphates as CD73 inhibitors, potentially useful in cancer immunotherapy. We now expand the structure-activity relationship of pyrimidine nucleotides as human CD73 inhibitors. 4-Chloro (MRS4598 16; Ki = 0.673 nM) and 4-iodo (MRS4620 18; Ki = 0.436 nM) substitution of the N4-ben...
Article
Full-text available
Whereas adenosine 5’-triphosphate (ATP) is the major energy source in cells, extracellular ATP (eATP) released from activated/damaged cells is widely thought to represent a potent damage-associated molecular pattern that promotes inflammatory responses. Here, we provide suggestive evidence that eATP is constitutively produced in the uninflamed lymp...
Preprint
Full-text available
Ocular ATP and adenosine have emerged as important signalling molecules involved in vascular remodeling, retinal functioning and neurovascular coupling in the mammalian eye. However, little is known about the regulatory mechanisms of purinergic signaling in the eye. Here, we used three-dimensional multiplexed imaging in combination with in situ enz...
Article
Full-text available
CD73 is a cell surface ecto-5′-nucleotidase, which converts extracellular adenosine monophosphate to adenosine. High tumor CD73 expression is associated with poor outcome among triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) patients. Here we investigated the mechanisms by which CD73 might contribute to TNBC progression. This was done by inhibiting CD73 with...
Article
The concept of extracellular purinergic signaling was first proposed by Geoffrey Burnstock in the early 1970s. Since then, extracellular ATP and its metabolites ADP and adenosine have attracted an enormous amount of attention in terms of their involvement in a wide range of immunomodulatory, thromboregulatory, angiogenic, vasoactive and other patho...
Article
Ecto-5′-nucleotidase (CD73) catalyzes the hydrolysis of AMP to anti-inflammatory, immunosuppressive adenosine. It is expressed on vascular endothelial, epithelial, and also numerous cancer cells where it strongly contributes to an immunosuppressive microenvironment. In the present study we designed and synthesized fluorescent-labeled CD73 inhibitor...
Article
Extracellular adenosine mediates diverse anti-inflammatory, angiogenic and vasoactive effects, and has become an important therapeutic target for cancer, which has been translated into clinical trials. This study was designed to comprehensively assess adenosine metabolism in prostate and breast cancer cells. We identified cellular adenosine turnove...
Chapter
Studies on pathophysiology and the therapeutic potential of extracellular ATP and other purines represent an important and rapidly evolving field. The integral response of the cell is determined by multiple factors, including the release of endogenous ATP, co-expression of different types of nucleotide- and adenosine-selective receptors, as well as...
Article
Full-text available
The extracellular ATP/adenosine axis in the tumor microenvironment (TME) has emerged as an important immune-regulatory pathway. Nucleoside triphosphate diphosphohydrolase-1 (NTPDase1), otherwise known as CD39, is highly expressed in the TME, both on infiltrating immune cells and tumor cells across a broad set of cancer indications. CD39 processes p...
Article
Adenosine is a key metabolic and immune-checkpoint regulator implicated in the tumor escape from the host immune system. Major gaps in knowledge that impede the development of effective adenosine-based therapeutics include: (1) lack of consideration of redundant pathways controlling ATP and adenosine levels; (2) lack of distinction between receptor...
Article
Full-text available
Ecto‐5′‐nucleotidase (CD73, EC 3.1.3.5) catalyzes the extracellular hydrolysis of AMP yielding adenosine, which induces immunosuppression, angiogenesis, metastasis, and proliferation of cancer cells. CD73 inhibition is therefore proposed as a novel strategy for cancer (immuno)therapy, and CD73 antibodies are currently undergoing clinical trials. De...
Conference Paper
The ATP/Adenosine pathway in the tumor microenvironment (TME) has emerged as an important immune-regulatory pathway. The ATPase CD39 is highly expressed in the TME, both on infiltrating immune cells and tumor cells across a broad set of cancer indications. CD39 processes pro-inflammatory extracellular ATP to ADP and AMP, which is then processed by...
Article
Cluster of differentiation 73 (CD73) converts adenosine 5'-monophosphate to immunosuppressive adenosine, and its inhibition was proposed as a new strategy for cancer treatment. We synthesized 5'- O-[(phosphonomethyl)phosphonic acid] derivatives of purine and pyrimidine nucleosides, which represent nucleoside diphosphate analogues, and compared thei...
Article
Full-text available
ATP and adenosine are important signaling molecules involved in vascular remodeling, retinal function, and neurovascular coupling in the eye. Current knowledge on enzymatic pathways governing the duration and magnitude of ocular purinergic signaling is incompletely understood. By employing sensitive analytical assays, this study dissected ocular pu...
Article
Full-text available
Introduction Le PXE est une affection génétique dont les manifestations cliniques, cutanées et systémiques, résultent classiquement de la calcification prématurée des fibres élastiques. Toutefois, ce mécanisme physiopathologique ne saurait rendre compte de l’intégralité du phénotype clinicobiologique observé au cours du PXE. D’autres explications s...
Article
Intravascular ATP and adenosine have emerged as important regulators of endothelial barrier function, vascular remodeling and neovascularization at various pathological states, including hypoxia, inflammation and oxidative stress. By using human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC) and bovine vasa vasorum endothelial cells (VVEC) as representat...
Article
Full-text available
Pseudoxanthoma elasticum (PXE) is a rare genetic condition primarily caused by hepatic ABCC6 transporter dysfunction. Most clinical manifestations of PXE are due to premature calcification of elastic fibers. However, the vascular impact of PXE is pleiotropic and remains ill-defined. ABCC6 expression has recently been associated with cellular nucleo...
Article
Full-text available
Faster acclimatization to high altitude upon re-ascent is seen in humans; however, the molecular basis for this enhanced adaptive response is unknown. We report that in healthy lowlanders, plasma adenosine levels are rapidly induced by initial ascent to high altitude and achieved even higher levels upon re-ascent, a feature that is positively assoc...
Article
Full-text available
Key message: Ecto-5'-nucleotidase/CD73 and adenylate kinase-1 circulate in human vitreous fluid. Adenylate kinase activity is high in diabetic eyes with proliferative retinopathy. Diabetic eyes display higher intravitreal ATP/ADP ratio than non-diabetic controls. Soluble adenylate kinase maintains resynthesis of inflammatory ATP in diabetic eyes.
Article
Full-text available
Extracellular ATP is suspected to contribute to migraine pain but regulatory mechanisms controlling pro-nociceptive purinergic mechanisms in the meninges remain unknown. We studied the peculiarities of metabolic and signaling pathways of ATP and its downstream metabolites in rat meninges and in cultured trigeminal cells exposed to the migraine medi...
Article
Background: High altitude is a challenging condition caused by insufficient oxygen supply. Inability to adjust to hypoxia may lead to pulmonary edema, stroke, cardiovascular dysfunction, and even death. Thus, understanding the molecular basis of adaptation to high altitude may reveal novel therapeutics to counteract the detrimental consequences of...
Article
Over recent years, significant advances in cancer immunotherapy have been made due to a better understanding of the principles underlying tumor biology and immunology. In this context, ecto-5′-nucleotidase (CD73) is a key molecule, because the degradation of AMP into adenosine results in the generation of an immunosuppressed and pro-angiogenic nich...
Article
Full-text available
Extracellular adenosine triphosphate (ATP) regulates pancreatic duct function via P2Y and P2X receptors. It is well known that ATP is released from upstream pancreatic acinar cells. The ATP homeostasis in pancreatic ducts, which secrete bicarbonate-rich fluid, has not yet been examined. First, our aim was to reveal whether pancreatic duct cells rel...
Article
Full-text available
Escherichia coli amine oxidase (ECAO), encoded by the tynA gene, catalyzes the oxidative deamination of aromatic amines into aldehydes through a well-established mechanism, but its exact biological role is unknown. We investigated the role of ECAO by screening environmental and human isolates for tynA and characterizing a tynA-deletion strain using...
Article
Full-text available
Purinergic receptor activation via extracellular ATP is involved in the pathogenesis of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Nucleoside triphosphate diphosphohydrolase-1/CD39 hydrolyses extracellular ATP and modulates P2 receptor signalling. We aimed to investigate the expression and function of CD39 in the pathogenesis of cigarette smoke-...
Article
Ecto-5'-nucleotidase (eN, CD73) catalyzes the hydrolysis of extracellular AMP to adenosine. eN inhibitors have potential as cancer therapeutics. The eN inhibitor α,β-methylene-ADP (AOPCP, adenosine-5'-O-[(phosphonomethyl)phosphonic acid]) was used as a lead structure, and derivatives modified in various positions were prepared. Products were tested...
Article
Full-text available
Dendritic cells (DCs) are the professional antigen presenting cells (APCs) in the lungs. They are known to be key players in the induction and maintenance of allergic asthma by cross-linking innate and adaptive immune responses. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are known to influence cell fate and function by translational suppression or induction of messenger R...
Article
Toll like-receptor-9 (TLR9) is an innate immune system DNA-receptor which is also widely expressed in breast cancer cell lines and in clinical breast cancer specimens. Although TLR9 ligands (such as bacterial DNA and synthetic, CpG-sequence containing oligonucleotides) induce TLR9-mediated invasion in breast cancer cells in vitro, the contribution...
Article
Rationale: Purinergic signaling plays an important role in inflammation and vascular integrity, but little is known about purinergic mechanisms during the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis in humans. Objective: To study markers of purinergic signaling in a cohort of patients with peripheral artery disease (PAD). Methods and Results: Plasma ATP and...
Article
Full-text available
CD73/ecto-5’-nucleotidase is a key enzyme in the regulation of purinergic signaling and inflammatory reactions. It hydrolyzes extracellular AMP into adenosine, which dampens immune cell activation, and reduces leukocyte trafficking. By comparing CD73 expression and function in mononuclear and endothelial cells (ECs) of blood and lymph, we show that...
Article
Full-text available
Abstract Extracellular nucleotides and nucleosides mediate diverse signaling effects in virtually all organs and tissues. Most models of purinergic signaling depend on functional interactions between distinct processes, including (i) the release of endogenous ATP and other nucleotides, (ii) triggering of signaling events via a series of nucleotide-...
Article
Brown adipose tissue (BAT) is specialized in energy expenditure, making it a potential target for anti-obesity therapies. Following exposure to cold, BAT is activated by the sympathetic nervous system with concomitant release of catecholamines and activation of β-adrenergic receptors. Because BAT therapies based on cold exposure or β-adrenergic ago...
Article
Background: Adenosine levels are regulated by ecto-5'-nucleotidase/CD73 and adenosine deaminase (ADA). Adenosine regulates endothelial permeability and anti-inflammatory responses via adenosine receptors. Here, the adenosine receptors and purine-converting enzymes were studied during postnatal development and inflammation. Methods: Newborn, 1-,...
Article
Full-text available
CD73, ecto-5'-nucleotidase, is the key enzyme catalyzing the conversion of extracellular AMP to adenosine that controls vascular permeability and immunosuppression. Also prostatic acid phosphatase (PAP) possesses ecto-5'-nucleotidase/AMPase activity and is present in leukocytes. However, its role related to immune system is unknown. Therefore, we a...
Article
Objective: New biomarkers are needed to better predict the severity of acute pancreatitis. CD73/ecto-5'-nucleotidase is an enzyme that generates adenosine, which dampens inflammation and improves vascular barrier function in several disease models. CD73 also circulates in a soluble form in the blood. We studied whether levels of soluble form of CD...
Article
Unlabelled: Extracellular adenosine mediates diverse anti-inflammatory, angiogenic, and other signaling effects via binding to adenosine receptors, and it also regulates cell proliferation and death via activation of the intrinsic signaling pathways. Given the emerging role of adenosine and other purines in tumor growth and metastasis, this study...
Article
PurposeExtracellular purines play important role in ocular physiology, diabetes, vascular remodelling and adaptation to inflammation. This study was aimed to evaluate intravitreal purine levels in patients with diabetic retinopathy (DR) and other non-vascular vitreoretinal eye diseases.Methods Vitreous samples were collected at the start of the thr...
Article
Full-text available
Pulmonary vascular leakage occurs early in acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). Mortality is high (35-45%), but no effective pharmacotherapy exists. Production of anti-inflammatory adenosine by ecto-5'-nucleotidase (CD73) helps maintain endothelial barrier function. We tested whether interferon-beta-1a (IFN-beta-1a), which increases CD73 syn...
Article
Full-text available
CD73 (ecto-5'-nucleotidase) is a cell surface enzyme that regulates purinergic signalling by desphosphorylating extracellular AMP to adenosine. 5'-nucleotidases are known to be expressed in brain, but the expression of CD73 and its putative physiological functions at this location remain elusive. Here we found, using immunohistochemistry of wild-ty...
Article
Full-text available
Aims: Extracellular ATP and ADP regulate diverse inflammatory, prothrombotic and vasoactive responses in the vasculature. Statins have been shown to modulate their signaling pathways in vitro. We hypothesized that altered intravascular nucleotide turnover modulates vasodilation in patients with type 1 diabetes (T1DM), and this can be partly restore...
Article
Purinergic signaling cascade includes the release of endogenous ATP and other agonists by chemical and mechanical stimuli, modulation of diverse cellular functions and subsequent ectoenzymatic inactivation. Basal release of extracellular purines and its physiological relevance remain controversial. Here we employed a combination of enzyme-coupled a...
Article
Full-text available
Extracellular ATP and ADP trigger inflammatory, vasodilatatory, and prothrombotic signaling events in the vasculature, and their turnover is governed by networks of membrane-associated enzymes. The contribution of soluble activities to intravascular nucleotide homeostasis remains controversial. By using thin-layer chromatographic assays, we reveale...
Article
Intravascular ATP and ADP are important regulators of vascular tone, thrombosis, inflammation, and angiogenesis. This study was undertaken to evaluate the contribution of purinergic signaling to disturbed vasodilation and vascular remodeling during atherosclerosis progression. We used apolipoprotein E-deficient (Apoe(-/-)) mice as an appropriate ex...
Article
Full-text available
Vascular remodeling plays a pivotal role in a variety of pathophysiological conditions where hypoxia and inflammation are prominent features. Intravascular ATP, ADP and adenosine are known as important regulators of vascular tone, permeability and homeostasis, however contribution of purinergic signalling to endothelial cell growth and angiogenesis...
Article
CD73/ecto-5'-nucleotidase dephosphorylates extracellular AMP into adenosine, and it is a key enzyme in the regulation of adenosinergic signaling. The contribution of host CD73 to tumor growth and anti-tumor immunity has not been studied. Here, we show that under physiological conditions CD73-deficient mice had significantly elevated ATPase and ADPa...
Article
Full-text available
CD73 is involved in the extracellular ATP metabolism by dephosphorylating extracellular AMP to adenosine and thus regulating permeability of the blood vessels and leukocyte traffic into the tissues. It is also present on lymphatic vessels where its distribution and function have not been characterized. We found that CD73 is expressed on a subpopula...
Article
The mevalonate synthesis pathway produces intermediates for isoprenylation of small GTPases, which are involved in the regulation of actin cytoskeleton and cell motility. Here, we investigated the role of the prenylation transferases in the regulation of the cytoskeletal organization and motility of PC-3 prostate cancer cells. This was done by usin...
Chapter
Full-text available
Our previous studies demonstrated that angiogenic expansion of the vasa vasorum network can be observed in the pulmonary artery adventitia of chronically hypoxic calves. Because extracellular ATP and ADP are important regulators of vascular cell function, we hypothesized that these nucleotides may contribute to vasa vasorum neovascularization induc...
Article
Full-text available
Extracellular ATP and adenosine are important regulators of immune responses; however, contribution of purinergic signaling to host defense during persistent microbial infections remains obscure. Lyme borreliosis is a common arthropod-borne infection caused by Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato. In this study, we investigated whether lymphoid purinerg...
Article
Vascular adhesion protein-1 (VAP-1) is an infection/inflammation-inducible endothelial glycoprotein. Based on our previous studies, the most VAP-1-selective peptide (VAP-P1) was 1,4,7,10-tetraazacyclododecane-N',N'',N''',N-tetraacetic acid (DOTA)-conjugated, 68gallium (68Ga)-labeled (named [68Ga]DOTAVAP-P1) and evaluated preliminarily. Targeting wa...
Article
IFN-beta treatment reduces the relapse rate in MS but its mechanism of action remains incompletely understood. Our aim was to clarify the beneficial effect of IFN-beta in the treatment of MS. We assessed the influence of IFN-beta treatment on (i) CD73 expression on the surface of primary cultures of human blood-brain barrier endothelial cells (BBB-...
Article
Unlabelled: Concanavalin A (Con A)-induced injury is an established natural killer T (NKT) cell-mediated model of inflammation that has been used in studies of immune liver disease. Extracellular nucleotides, such as adenosine triphosphate, are released by Con A-stimulated cells and bind to specific purinergic type 2 receptors to modulate immune a...
Article
Sympathetic vasoconstriction is blunted in the vascular beds of contracting skeletal muscle in humans, presumably due to the action of vasoactive metabolites (functional sympatholysis). Recently, we demonstrated that infusion of ATP into the arterial circulation of the resting human leg increases blood flow and concomitantly blunts alpha-adrenergic...
Article
Full-text available
The molecular mechanisms underlying the multiresistant phenotype of leukemic and other cancer cel