Research progress on characterization,function and expression regulation of ornithine decarboxylase

Polyamines play important roles in cell growth,survival and proliferation.Changes in polyamine levels have been associated with diseases and aging.Ornithine decarboxylase(ODC),the first ratelimiting enzyme in the polyamine biosynthesis,catalyzes the decarboxylation of ornithine to yield putrescine.Therefore,ODC can involve in cell proliferation by regulating polyamines amount in vivo.In recent years,significant progresses have been made on ODC function,particularly in polyamine levels regulated by ODC,cell proliferation,cancer and regulation of ODC expression.In this review,the molecular characterization,function and expression regulation of ODC were described and the future research directions were prospected.