Function
Indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase is the first and rate-limiting enzyme of tryptophan catabolism through kynurenine pathway, thus causing depletion of tryptophan which can cause halted growth of microbes as well as T cells.
INDO is an immunomodulatory enzyme produced by some alternatively activated macrophages and other immunoregulatory cells (also used as an immune subversion strategy by many tumors). INDO Interferon-gamma has an antiproliferative effect on many tumor cells and inhibits intracellular pathogens such as Toxoplasma and chlamydia, at least partly because of the induction of indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase.
Read more about this topic: Indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase
Famous quotes containing the word function:
“It is not the function of our Government to keep the citizen from falling into error; it is the function of the citizen to keep the Government from falling into error.”
—Robert H. [Houghwout] Jackson (1892–1954)
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—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950)
“Uses are always much broader than functions, and usually far less contentious. The word function carries overtones of purpose and propriety, of concern with why something was developed rather than with how it has actually been found useful. The function of automobiles is to transport people and objects, but they are used for a variety of other purposes—as homes, offices, bedrooms, henhouses, jetties, breakwaters, even offensive weapons.”
—Frank Smith (b. 1928)