Rapid purification and characterization of nucleoside diphosphate kinase isoforms using ATP-sepharose affinity column chromatography.

Nucleoside diphosphate kinases (NDP kinases), products of the nm23 gene, catalyze the transfer of the terminal phosphate group of the nucleoside triphosphate to the corresponding diphosphate and may be involved in tumor metastasis suppression, development, and signal transduction. NDP kinase from various sources including human erythrocytes, rat brain tissue and E. coli strain BL21 transformed with pET3C expression plasmids containing nm23-H1 or nm23-H2, were purified in one step to homogeneity using ATP-sepharose affinity column chromatography. This method was applicable for the purification of various NDP kinases which show the same enzymatic activity and immunodetection, but have various molecular weight and quaternary structures.