For a long time, superoxide generation by an NADPH oxidase was considered as an oddity only found in professional phagocytes. Over the last years, six homologs of the cytochrome subunit of the phag...

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The NOX Family of ROS-Generating NADPH Oxidases: Physiology and Pathophysiology

The glutathione S-transferases (GST) represent a major group of detoxification enzymes. All eukaryotic species possess multiple cytosolic and membrane-bound GST isoenzymes, each of which displays distinct catalytic as well as noncatalytic binding properties: the cytosolic enzymes are encoded by at least five distantly related gene families (designated class alpha, mu, pi, sigma, and theta GST), whereas the membrane-bound enzymes, microsomal GST and leukotriene C, synthetase, are encoded by single genes and both have arisen separately from the soluble GST. Evidence suggests that the level of expression of GST is a crucial factor in determining the sensitivity of cells to a broad spectrum of toxic chemicals. In this article the biochemical functions of GST are described to show how individual isoenzymes contribute to resistance to carcinogens, antitumor drugs, environmental pollutants, and products of oxidative stress.A description of the mechanisms of transcriptional and posttranscriptional regulat...

The glutathione S-transferase supergene family: regulation of GST and the contribution of the isoenzymes to cancer chemoprotection and drug resistance.

Metal Organic Frameworks in Biomedicine Patricia Horcajada,* Ruxandra Gref, Tarek Baati, Phoebe K. Allan, Guillaume Maurin, Patrick Couvreur, G erard F erey, Russell E. Morris, and Christian Serre* Institut Lavoisier, UMR CNRS 8180, Universit e de Versailles St-Quentin en Yvelines, 45 Avenue des Etats-Unis, 78035 Versailles Cedex, France Facult e de Pharmacie, UMR CNRS 8612, Universit e Paris-Sud, 92296 Châtenay-Malabry Cedex, France Institut Charles Gerhardt Montpellier, UMR CNRS 5253, Universit e Montpellier 2, 34095 Montpellier cedex 05, France EaStChem School of Chemistry, University of St. Andrews Purdie Building, St Andrews, KY16 9ST U.K.

Metal-organic frameworks in biomedicine.

Radicals are species containing one or more unpaired electrons. The oxygen radical superoxide (O 2 - ) and the non-radical oxidants hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and hypochlorous acid (HOCl) are produced during normal metabolism and perform several useful functions. Excessive production of O 2 - and H2O2 can result in tissue damage, which often involves generation of highly reactive hydroxy 1 radical (· OH) and other oxidants in the presence of “catalytic” iron or copper ions. A major form of antioxidant defence is the storage and transport of iron or copper ions in forms that will not catalyze formation of reactive radicals. Tissue injury, e. g., by ischaemia or trauma, can cause increased iron availability and accelerate free radical reactions. This may be especially important in the brain, since areas of this organ are rich in iron and cerebrospinal fluid cannot bind released iron ions. Oxidative stress upon nervous tissue can produce damage by several interacting mechanisms, including rises in intracellular free Ca2+ and, possibly, release of excitatory amino acids. Recent suggestions that free radical reactions are involved in the neurotoxicity of aluminium and in damage to the substantia nigra in Parkinson’s disease are reviewed. Finally, the nature of antioxidants is discussed, with a suggestion that antioxidant enzymes and chelators of iron ions may be more generally useful protective agents than chain-breaking antioxidants. Careful precautions must be taken in the design of antioxidants for therapeutic use.

Reactive Oxygen Species and the Central Nervous System

This review focuses on the role of oxidative processes in atherosclerosis and its resultant cardiovascular events. There is now a consensus that atherosclerosis represents a state of heightened oxidative stress characterized by lipid and protein oxidation in the vascular wall. The oxidative modification hypothesis of atherosclerosis predicts that low-density lipoprotein (LDL) oxidation is an early event in atherosclerosis and that oxidized LDL contributes to atherogenesis. In support of this hypothesis, oxidized LDL can support foam cell formation in vitro, the lipid in human lesions is substantially oxidized, there is evidence for the presence of oxidized LDL in vivo, oxidized LDL has a number of potentially proatherogenic activities, and several structurally unrelated antioxidants inhibit atherosclerosis in animals. An emerging consensus also underscores the importance in vascular disease of oxidative events in addition to LDL oxidation. These include the production of reactive oxygen and nitrogen species by vascular cells, as well as oxidative modifications contributing to important clinical manifestations of coronary artery disease such as endothelial dysfunction and plaque disruption. Despite these abundant data however, fundamental problems remain with implicating oxidative modification as a (requisite) pathophysiologically important cause for atherosclerosis. These include the poor performance of antioxidant strategies in limiting either atherosclerosis or cardiovascular events from atherosclerosis, and observations in animals that suggest dissociation between atherosclerosis and lipoprotein oxidation. Indeed, it remains to be established that oxidative events are a cause rather than an injurious response to atherogenesis. In this context, inflammation needs to be considered as a primary process of atherosclerosis, and oxidative stress as a secondary event. To address this issue, we have proposed an "oxidative response to inflammation" model as a means of reconciling the response-to-injury and oxidative modification hypotheses of atherosclerosis.

Role of Oxidative Modifications in Atherosclerosis

The heme oxygenase (HO) system consists of two forms identified to date: the oxidative stress-inducible protein HO-1 (HSP32) and the constitutive isozyme HO-2. These proteins, which are different gene products, have little in common in primary structure, regulation, or tissue distribution. Both, however, catalyze oxidation of heme to biologically active molecules: iron, a gene regulator; biliverdin, an antioxidant; and carbon monoxide, a heme ligand. Finding the impressive heme-degrading activity of brain led to the suggestion that "HO in brain has functions aside from heme degradation" and to subsequent exploration of carbon monoxide as a promising and potentially significant messenger molecule. There is much parallelism between the biological actions and functions of the CO- and NO-generating systems; and their regulation is intimately linked. This review highlights the current information on molecular and biochemical properties of HO-1 and HO-2 and addresses the possible mechanisms for mutual regulatory interactions between the CO- and NO-generating systems.

THE HEME OXYGENASE SYSTEM:A Regulator of Second Messenger Gases

In biological systems oxidation of heme is carried out by two isozymes of the microsomal heme oxygenase, HO-1 and HO-2. HO-1 is the commonly known heme oxygenase, the activity of which can be induced by up to 100-fold in response to a wide variety of stimuli (metals, heme, hormones, etc.). HO-2 was only recently discovered, and the isozyme appears to be uninducible. The two forms are products of two different genes and differ in their tissue expression. The primary structure of HO-1 and an HO-2 fragment of 91 amino acid residues show only 58% homology, but share a region with 100% secondary structure homology. This region is believed to be the catalytic site. Most likely, HO-1 gene is regulated in the same manner as metallothione in the gene. HO-1 has a heat shock regulatory element, and possibly many promoter elements, which bind to respective inducers and cause transcription of the gene. In vivo induction of HO-1 activity in the liver is accompanied by decreases in the total P-450 levels and, in a reconstituted system, cytochrome P-450b heme can be quantitatively converted to biliverdin by HO-1 and HO-2. The enzyme activity is inhibited in vivo for extended periods subsequent to binding of Zn- and Sn- protoporphyrins. This property appears useful for the suppression of bilirubin production. The metalloporphyrins, however, are not innocuous and cause major disruptions in cellular metabolism. In this review recent findings on heme oxygenase are highlighted.

Heme oxygenase: function, multiplicity, regulatory mechanisms, and clinical applications.

Two isozymes of heme oxygenase (HO), HO-1 or HSP32 and the constitutive form HO-2, have been characterized to date. We report the discovery of a third protein species and refer to it as HO-3. HO-3 is the product of a single transcript of approximately 2.4 kb and can encode a protein of approximately 33 kDa. The HO-3 transcript is found in the spleen, liver, thymus, prostate, heart, kidney, brain and testis and is the product of a single-copy gene. The predicted amino acid structure of HO-3 differs from both HO-1 (HSP32) and HO-2 but is closely related to HO-2 (approximately 90%). Escherichia coli expressed and purified HO-3 protein does not cross react with polyclonal antibodies to either rat HO-1 or HO-2, is a poor heme catalyst, and displays hemoprotein spectral characteristics. The predicted protein has two heme regulatory motifs that may be involved in heme binding. These motifs and the hemoprotein nature of HO-3 suggest a potential regulatory role for the protein in cellular processes which are heme-dependent.

https://febs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/j.1432-1033.1997.00725.x

Mahin D. Maines

Papers

THE HEME OXYGENASE SYSTEM:A Regulator of Second Messenger Gases

Heme oxygenase: function, multiplicity, regulatory mechanisms, and clinical applications.

Isolation and Characterization of a cDNA from the Rat Brain that Encodes Hemoprotein Heme Oxygenase-3

Characterization of two constitutive forms of rat liver microsomal heme oxygenase. Only one molecular species of the enzyme is inducible.

Current protocols in toxicology