Creatine kinase

Creatine kinase (CK), also known as creatine phosphokinase (CPK) or phosphocreatine kinase, is an enzyme (EC 2.7.3.2) expressed by various tissues and cell types. CK catalyses the conversion of creatine and uses adenosine triphosphate (ATP) to create phosphocreatine (PCr) and adenosine diphosphate (ADP). This CK enzyme reaction is reversible and thus ATP can be generated from PCr and ADP.(See Template:Leucine metabolism in humans – this diagram does not include the pathway for β-leucine synthesis via leucine 2,3-aminomutase) Creatine kinase (CK), also known as creatine phosphokinase (CPK) or phosphocreatine kinase, is an enzyme (EC 2.7.3.2) expressed by various tissues and cell types. CK catalyses the conversion of creatine and uses adenosine triphosphate (ATP) to create phosphocreatine (PCr) and adenosine diphosphate (ADP). This CK enzyme reaction is reversible and thus ATP can be generated from PCr and ADP. In tissues and cells that consume ATP rapidly, especially skeletal muscle, but also brain, photoreceptor cells of the retina, hair cells of the inner ear, spermatozoa and smooth muscle, PCr serves as an energy reservoir for the rapid buffering and regeneration of ATP in situ, as well as for intracellular energy transport by the PCr shuttle or circuit. Thus creatine kinase is an important enzyme in such tissues. Clinically, creatine kinase is assayed in blood tests as a marker of damage of CK-rich tissue such as in myocardial infarction (heart attack), rhabdomyolysis (severe muscle breakdown), muscular dystrophy, autoimmune myositides, and acute kidney injury. In the cells, the 'cytosolic' CK enzymes consist of two subunits, which can be either B (brain type) or M (muscle type). There are, therefore, three different isoenzymes: CK-MM, CK-BB and CK-MB. The genes for these subunits are located on different chromosomes: B on 14q32 and M on 19q13. In addition to those three cytosolic CK isoforms, there are two mitochondrial creatine kinase isoenzymes, the ubiquitous and sarcomeric form. The functional entity of the latter two mitochondrial CK isoforms is an octamer consisting of four dimers each. While mitochondrial creatine kinase is directly involved in formation of phospho-creatine from mitochondrial ATP, cytosolic CK regenerates ATP from ADP, using PCr. This happens at intracellular sites where ATP is used in the cell, with CK acting as an in situATP regenerator. Isoenzyme patterns differ in tissues. Skeletal muscle expresses CK-MM (98%) and low levels of CK-MB (1%). The myocardium (heart muscle), in contrast, expresses CK-MM at 70% and CK-MB at 25–30%. CK-BB is predominantly expressed in brain and smooth muscle, including vascular and uterine tissue. A number of genuine CK structures have been solved by high-resolution electron microscopy and protein X-ray crystallography by the two research groups led by Dr. Theo Wallimann at the Biol. Dept. ETH Zurich and by Dr. Wolfgang Kabsch at MPI in Heidelberg. The first X-ray structure of a creatine kinase (CK) family member solved was that of sarcomeric muscle-type mitochondrial CK (s-mtCK (in 1996) (Fritz-Wolf et al. 1996 ), later followed by the structure of ubiquitous u-mtCK in 2000. (Eder et al. 2000 ). Both mitochondrial CK isoforms are building highly symmetrical octameric structures with 4-fold symmetry. (Schnyder et al. 1990 ; Schnyder et al. 1991 ). The atomic structure of cytosolic brain-type BB-CK was solved at 1.4 ! Angstroms in 1999. (Eder et al. 1999 ). Cytosolic BB-CK, as well as muscle-type MM-CK are both forming banana-shaped symmetric dimers, with one active site in each subunit. (Hornemann et al. 2000 ). The mitochondrial creatine kinase (CKm) is present in the mitochondrial intermembrane space, where it regenerates phosphocreatine (PCr) from mitochondrially generated ATP and creatine (Cr) imported from the cytosol. Apart from the two mitochondrial CK isoenzyme forms, that is, ubiquitous mtCK (present in non-muscle tissues) and sarcomeric mtCK (present in sarcomeric muscle), there are three cytosolic CK isoforms present in the cytosol, depending on the tissue. Whereas MM-CK is expressed in sarcomeric muscle, that is, skeletal and cardiac muscle, MB-CK is expressed in cardiac muscle, and BB-CK is expressed in smooth muscle and in most non-muscle tissues. Mitochondrial mtCK and cytosolic CK are connected in a so-called PCr/Cr-shuttle or circuit. PCr generated by mtCK in mitochondria is shuttled to cytosolic CK that is coupled to ATP-dependent processes, e.g. ATPases, such as acto-myosin ATPase and calcium ATPase involved in muscle contraction, and sodium/potassium ATPase involved in sodium retention in the kidney. The bound cytosolic CK accepts the PCr shuttled through the cell and uses ADP to regenerate ATP, which can then be used as energy source by the ATPases (CK is associated intimately with the ATPases, forming a functionally coupled microcompartment). PCr is not only an energy buffer but also a cellular transport form of energy between subcellular sites of energy (ATP) production (mitochondria and glycolysis) and those of energy utilization (ATPases).Thus, CK enhances skeletal, cardiac, and smooth muscle contractility, and is involved in the generation of blood pressure.