Glycine-N-Methyltransferase (GNMT)

Glycine N-methyltransferase (GNMT; EC 2.1.1.20) catalyzes the synthesis of N-methylglycine (sarcosine) from glycine using S-adenosylmethionine (AdoMet) as the methyl donor.GNMT acts as an enzyme to regulate the ratio of S-adenosylmethionine to S-adenosylhomocysteine (AdoHcy) and participates in the detoxification pathway in liver cells.

These unbiased metabolomic profiles were able to distinguish benign prostate, clinically localized prostate cancer, and metastatic disease. Sarcosine, an N-methyl derivative of the amino acid glycine, was identified as a differential metabolite that is highly increased during prostate cancer progression to metastasis and can be detected noninvasively in urine. Sarcosine levels were also increased in invasive prostate cancer cell lines relative to benign prostate epithelial cells.