Enolase 2
Enzyme in mammals and humans
Gamma-enolase, also known as enolase 2 (ENO2) or neuron specific enolase (NSE), is an enzyme that in humans is encoded by the ENO2 gene. Gamma-enolase is a phosphopyruvate hydratase.
Gamma-enolase is one of the three enolase isoenzymes found in mammals. This isoenzyme, a homodimer, is found in mature neurons and cells of neuronal origin. A switch from alpha enolase to gamma enolase occurs in neural tissue during development in rats and primates.
01Interactive pathway map
Click on genes, proteins and metabolites below to link to respective articles.
02Utility
Detection of NSE with antibodies can be used to identify neuronal cells and cells with neuroendocrine differentiation. NSE is produced by small-cell carcinomas, which are neuroendocrine in origin. NSE is therefore a useful tumor marker for distinguishing small-cell carcinomas from other tumors.
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Enolase 2”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- Protein ENO2 PDB 1te6.png by Emw, CC BY-SA 3.0
- Hemangioblastoma - nse - high mag.jpg by Nephron, CC BY-SA 3.0
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