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Put basic info about uricase here

Function

It is an enzyme that converts uric acid to allantoin. Allantoin is much more soluble than uric acid, and passes harmlessly from the body. Unfortunately, during evolution, humans have lost the ability to produce uricase (also called urate oxidase).

Disease

If there is some damage to uricase or if it is absent in the body, it may be detrimental. Without functioning uricase, there will be an excess amount of insoluble uric acid in the body which leads to a disease called gout. Gout is a form of inflammatory arthritis that develops in people who have high levels of uric acid in the blood. The acid forms needle-like crystals in joints and causes sudden, severe episodes of pain, redness, and swelling.

Uric acid is a waste material made by the breakdown of purines. Purines are found in foods high in protein. Gout occurs when uric acid accumulates which happens when there is more intake of uric acid than excreted uric acid. This leads to acute gout. The immune system recognizes it as a foreign product and attacks it. This will then lead to inflammation. The joint could be damaged or there could be bone erosion when the join is attacked.

There are many natural treatment options which include a decrease of purine intake, exercise, decrease smoking and alcohol intake, use of cherry juice (eliminate excess uric acid in blood). Another type of treatment available is gout therapy and medication. Pegloticase is a porcine uricase which is approved by the FDA for treatment of patients with gout. It must be administered by intravenous infusion every two weeks. Corticosteroids can also be taken by mouth or injected into an inflamed joint to relieve the pain and swelling of an acute gout attack. Corticosteroids and adrenocorticotropic hormones usually start working within 24 hours after you begin taking them.

Relevance

Uricase is an enzyme that catalyzes the conversion or uric acid to allantoin. Uric acid is an acidic waste product that your body passes through urine. It is a normal byproduct of the breakdown of foods that contain purines. Normally, the kidneys filter out uric acid from your blood; if too much builds up, it can lower the pH of your blood and urine and lead to a painful joint condition called gout and other complications. Interestingly, humans have naturally selected to terminate uricase. Because of the absence of uricase in humans, we may go through many complications caused by uric acid build up. Scientists are studying why natural selection would allow the accumulation of uric acid even though there are psychological complications of crystalized monosodium urate acutely causing liver and kidney damage or chronically causing gout.

Structural highlights

This is without a ligand. You can view uricase with a ligand