Aim: To review the available literature about heterologous expression of fungal L-asparaginase (L-ASNase). Materials & methods: A search was conducted across PubMed, Science Direct, Scopus and Web of Science databases; 4172 citations were identified and seven articles were selected. Results: The results showed that heterologous expression of fungal L-ASNase was performed mostly in bacterial expression systems, except for a study that expressed L-ASNase in a yeast system. Only three publications reported the purification and characterization of the enzyme. Conclusion: The information reported in this systematic review can contribute significantly to the recognition of the importance of biotechnological techniques for L-ASNase production.
Keywords: L-ASNase; L-asparaginase; acute lymphoblastic leukemia; antileukemic; fungi; heterologous expression; systematic review.
Asparaginase is a common treatment for the most common type of leukemia in children. These treatments generally use asparaginase sourced from bacteria. Some people can experience bad reactions to these treatments. One way that has been explored to avoid this is to use asparaginase sourced from fungi because they are more similar to humans. However, fungi produce less asparaginase than bacteria. This review looks into ways that the production of fungal asparaginases can be made more productive.