Thymidine phosphorylase has been used in a study to evaluate biomarkers for advanced breast cancer patients treated with capecitabine-based first-line chemotherapy. Thymidine phosphorylase has also been used in a study to investigate implications for the clinical efficacy of nucleoside analogues.
An enzyme that catalyzes the reversible conversion of thymidine to thymine. Thymidine phosphorylase is part of the pyrimidine nucleoside salvage pathway. This pathway allows pyrimidine bases to be recycled for nucleotide biosynthesis, while the pentose 1-phosphates are converted to intermediates of the pentose phosphate shunt and glycolysis. The E. coli thymidine phosphorylase shares 40% sequence homology with the human sequence, which has been found to be identical to the angiogenic agent platelet-derived endothelial growth factor. The purified E. coli enzyme has been shown to stimulate blood vessel growth in chick chorioallantoic membrane assays.
