Asparagine

Chemical structure for the amino acid, asparagine sumber  http://www.marvistavet.com/html/body_l-asparaginase.html

Asparagine is an amino acid required by cells for the production of protein. Asparagine can either be produced within a cell through an enzyme called “asparagine synthetase” or it can absorbed into the cell from the outside (i. e., it is consumed in the patient’s diet, absorbed into the body and made available to the body’s cells). Tumor cells, more specifically lymphatic tumor cells, require huge amounts of asparagines to keep up with their rapid, malignant growth. This means they use both asparagine from the diet as well as what they can make themselves (which is limited) to satisfy their large asparagine demand. Normal cells do not require nearly as much asparagine to survive and are able to make all the aparagine they need internally. On the other hand, tumor cells become depleted rapidly and die if the dietary supply is cut off because they cannot manufacture enough internally to support their continuing growth. The enzyme L-Asparaginase destroys asparagine outside the cells forcing the cells
to rely completely on what they can produce on their own.