Protein tyrosine nitration results in a post-translational modification that is increasingly receiving attention as an
important component of nitric oxide signaling (2). While multiple nonenzymatic mechanisms are known to be capable of producing nitrated tyrosine residues, most tyrosine nitration events involve catalysis by metalloproteins such as myeloperoxidase, eosino-philperoxidase (3), myoglobin, the cytochrome P-450s, superoxide dismutase and prostacyclin synthase.
Nitrotyrosine may also serve as a biomarker for the effects of reactive nitrogen oxides, based on tyrosine residues becoming nitrated in proteins at sites of inflammation induced tissue injury (1). The presence of nitro tyrosine-containing proteins therefore has shown high correlation to disease states such as atherosclerosis,
Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (4).