Mining aminoacyl tRNA synthases (aaRSs) for anti-angiogenic factors

Aminoacyl tRNA synthases (aaRSs) are ancient catalytic enzymes that catalyze the first step in protein synthesis, transfer of amino acid to its cognate tRNA, something that we learned years ago in Stryer’s Biochemistry.  But, these enzymes are also moonlighting proteins, with alternate splice forms or natural proteolytic fragments, acting as cytokines, angiogenic factors or angiostatic factors. The one that caught my eye was tryptophanyl-tRNA synthase (TrpRS) fragment which is antiangiogenic and is in clinical development for retinal diseases [...][...].