Inter-isoform Hetero-dimerization of Human UDP-Glucuronosyltransferases (UGTs) 1A1, 1A9, and 2B7 and Impacts on Glucuronidation Activity.

Human UDP-glucuronosyltransferases (UGTs) play a pivotal role in phase II metabolism by catalyzing the glucuronidation of endobiotics and xenobiotics. The catalytic activities of UGTs are highly impacted by both genetic polymorphisms and oligomerization. The present study aimed to assess the inter-isoform hetero-dimerization of UGT1A1, 1A9, and 2B7, including the wild type (1A1*1, 1A9*1, and 2B7*1) and the naturally occurring (1A1*1b, 1A9*2/*3/*5, and 2B7*71S/*2/*5) variants. The related enzymes were double expressed in Bac-to-Bac systems. The fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) technique and co-immunoprecipitation (Co-IP) revealed stable hetero-dimerization of UGT1A1, 1A9, and 2B7 allozymes. Variable FRET efficiencies and donor-acceptor distances suggested that genetic polymorphisms resulted in altered affinities to the target protein. In addition, the metabolic activities of UGTs were differentially altered upon hetero-dimerization via double expression systems. Moreover, protein interactions also changed the regioselectivity of UGT1A9 for querectin glucuronidation. These findings provide in-depth understanding of human UGT dimerization as well as clues for complicated UGT dependent metabolism in humans.

Homo- and hetero-dimerization of human UDP-glucuronosyltransferase 2B7 (UGT2B7) wild type and its allelic variants affect zidovudine glucuronidation activity.

Most human UDP-glucuronosyltransferase (UGT; EC 2.4.1.17) genes contain non-synonymous single nucleotide polymorphisms (nsSNPs) which cause amino acid substitutions. Allelic variants caused by nsSNPs may exhibit absent or reduced enzyme activity. UGT2B7 is one of the most important UGTs that glucuronidates abundant endobiotics and xenobiotics, such as estriol, morphine, and anticancer drugs. Three nsSNPs, UGT2B7*71S (211G>T), UGT2B7*2 (802C>T) and UGT2B7*5 (1192G>A) are observed in the UGT2B7 gene, and they code for allozymes UGT2B7*71S (A71S), UGT2B7*2 (H268Y), and UGT2B7*5 (D398N). UGT2B7 has been observed to form oligomers that affect its enzymatic activity and in this study, we investigated protein-protein interactions among UGT2B7 allozymes wild type (WT), A71S, H268Y and D398N, by performing a systematic quantitative fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) analysis in combination with co-immunoprecipitation assay. Quantitative FRET analysis revealed that UGT2B7 allozymes formed homo- and hetero-dimers and showed distinct features in donor-acceptor distances. Both codon 71 and codon 268 in the N-terminal domain were involved in the dimeric interaction. Co-immunoprecipitation experiments also proved that UGT2B7 allozymes formed stable dimers. The glucuronidation activities of homo- and hetero-dimers were further tested with zidovudine as the substrate. An increase in activity was observed when WT hetero-dimerized with A71S compared with homo-dimers, while both H268Y and D398N impaired the activity of WT and A71S by forming hetero-dimers. In addition, zidovudine glucuronidation activity is associated with FRET distance. These findings provide insights into the consequences of amino acid substitution in UGT2B7 on zidovudine glucuronidation and the association between protein-protein interaction and glucuronidation activity.

Interplay of Breast Cancer Resistance Protein (BCRP) and Metabolizing Enzymes.

The recent identification of the interplay between metabolizing enzymes and BCRP has drawn more and more attention from people. BCRP, a transporter belonging to ATP-binding cassette (ABC) family, has been hypothesized to play roles in many aspects including protecting the human body against therapeutics because it is expressed in the tissues that function as barriers in vivo. Efficient coupling of BCRP and metabolizing enzymes enables rapid elimination of foreign compounds from the body because BCRP could facilitate the excretion of metabolites catalyzed by phase I and II enzymes into bile, urine and feces. Without BCRP coupling, pass through the cell membrane may be difficult for them by passive diffusion because of the increment of the molecular weight and water solubility. Thus the metabolism-efflux alliance has extraordinary importance to drug metabolism, distribution, pharmacological effect, toxicity and elimination. In this manuscript, a brief discussion about the interplays of BCRP and metabolizing enzymes in liver, intestine, kidney, lung and other organs were presented and summarized. Many endogenous and exogenous compounds belong to different chemical groups, for instance, the dietary flavonoids and the steroidal hormones were involved. Clarifying the cooperation mechanisms of BCRP and enzymes could lead to a better prediction of drug clearance in vitro.

The interaction between human breast cancer resistance protein (BCRP) and five bisbenzylisoquinoline alkaloids.

BCRP is one of the key factors to drug absorption, distribution and elimination. Bisbenzylisoquinoline alkaloids are a large family of natural phytochemicals with great potential for clinical use. In this study, the interaction between BCRP and five bisbenzylisoquinoline alkaloids (neferine, isoliensinine, liensinine, dauricine and tetrandrine) were evaluated using LLC-PK1/BCRP cell model. The intracellular accumulation and bi-directional transport studies were conducted, and then molecular docking analysis was carried out employing a homology model of BCRP. Our study revealed that the permeability of these five alkaloids was not high, the Papp values were all less than 6.5 × 10(-6)cm/s. Liensinine and dauricine were substrates of BCRP: at lower concentration (10 µM), the net efflux ratios were 2.87 and 1.64 respectively. And their cellular accumulation was lower in LLC-PK1/BCRP cells than in LLC-PK1 cells. On the other hand, tetrandrine, isoliensinine and neferine were not substrates of BCRP. On the basis of docking studies, a direct hydrogen bond was formed between liensinine and arginine 482 which is a hot spot of BCRP for substrate specificity; and dauricine had hydrophobic interaction with BCRP. In conclusion, our study indicated that BCRP could mediate the excretion of liensinine and dauricine, thus influence their pharmacological activity and disposition.