Dennis R. Koop

Degradation of cytochrome P450 2E1 : selective loss after labilization of the enzyme

Mechanism-based inactivation of cytochrome P450 can result in the chemical modification of the heme, the protein, or both as a result of covalent binding of modified heme to the protein. In the present study we took advantage of different modes of inactivation of P450 2E1 by CCl4, 1-aminobenzotriazole, or 3-amino-1,2,4-triazole to investigate parameters which target P450 2E1 for proteolysis from the microsomal membrane. Treatment of mice with CCl4 at the point of maximal induction of P450 2E1 after a single oral dose of acetone resulted in the complete loss of P450 2E1-dependent p-nitrophenol hydroxylation and a 75% loss of immunochemically detectable protein within 1 h of administration. Treatment with 1-aminobenzotriazole at the point of maximal induction caused a complete loss of P450 2E1-dependent p-nitrophenol hydroxylation but only a 12% loss of immunochemically detectable protein 1 h after administration. Treatment of mice with 3-amino-1,2,4-triazole caused a rapid loss of both catalytic activity and microsomal p-nitrophenol hydroxylase activity. However, unlike CCl4 treatment, the activity and enzyme level rebounded 5 and 9 h after treatment. The P450 2E1 ligand, 4-methylpyrazole, administered at the point of maximal induction maintained the acetone-induced catalytic and immunochemical level of P450 2E1. These results suggest that differentially modified forms of P450 2E1 show a characteristic susceptibility to degradation. While there are many potential pathways for protein degradation, the loss of P450 2E1 was associated with increased formation of high molecular weight microsomal ubiquitin conjugates. The formation of ubiquitin-conjugated microsomal protein which correlates with P450 2E1 loss suggests that ubiquitination may represent a proteolytic signal for the rapid and selective proteolysis of certain labilized conformations of P450 2E1 from the endoplasmic reticulum.

Identification of ethanol-inducible P450 isozyme 3a (P450IIE1) as a benzene and phenol hydroxylase☆

In this report, the identity of the cytochrome P450 isozyme(s) catalyzing the hydroxylation of benzene and the major hydroxylated metabolite of benzene, phenol, was investigated using rabbit hepatic microsomes and six purified isozymes of hepatic P450. Microsomes from acetone-treated rabbits showed about a 5-fold induction of benzene hydroxylation to phenol and hydroquinone. This increase correlated with the increase in form 3a determined immunochemically (about 7-fold). Antibody to isozyme 3a inhibited greater than 90% of the benzene and phenol hydroxylase activity of hepatic microsomes from acetone-treated rabbits. At high benzene concentrations (2 mM) in the presence of cytochrome b5, form 3a was 1.3 times more active than form 2 and 7- to 10-fold more active than forms 3b, 3c, 4, and 6. At lower benzene concentrations (about 0.3 mM) form 3a was 5-fold more active than form 2. Furthermore, form 3a was the only isozyme to produce significant quantities of hydroquinone as did microsomes from acetone-treated rabbits. When phenol was used as the substrate, hydroquinone was the only product detected, and acetone treatment induced its formation 4- to 5-fold. Purified form 3a was 20- to 30-fold more active than the next most active isozyme, form 6, depending on the presence or absence of cytochrome b5. These results suggest that isozyme 3a (P450IIE1) is a low-Km benzene hydroxylase and the principal phenol hydroxylase in rabbit hepatic microsomes. As a result, the induction of isozyme 3a could potentiate the toxicity of benzene by catalyzing an increase in the formation of both phenol and hydroquinone.

Identification of a human liver cytochrome P-450 exhibiting catalytic and immunochemical similarities to cytochrome P-450 3a of rabbit liver

Immunoblot analysis of liver microsomes from nine patients demonstrated that each contained a cytochrome P-450 that reacted with an antibody directed against the ethanol-inducible rabbit liver cytochrome, P-450 3a. Two of the liver specimens exhibited high concentrations of the immunoreactive protein, high rates of aniline hydroxylation and N-nitrosodimethylamine demethylation, and extensive inhibition of activity in the presence of antibody to P-450 3a. One other liver specimen exhibited a very low rate of aniline hydroxylation with significantly less antibody inhibition. The variability witnessed was independent of the alcohol history of the individual patients, suggesting that the human cytochrome may be under some other environmental, dietary or genetic regulation. Its inducibility by ethanol was not directly studied in this investigation. However, we conclude that there is a cytochrome P-450 present in human liver which is immunochemically and catalytically similar to the ethanol-inducible P-450 of rabbit liver.

Comparison of the form(s) of cytochrome P-450 induced by ethanol and glutethimide in cultured chick hepatocytes

In this study, using a combination of immunological and enzymatic characterizations, we compared the forms of cytochrome P-450 induced by ethanol and glutethimide in primary cultures of chicken embryo hepatocytes. Recently we purified a cytochrome P-450 of 50K molecular weight from chicken embryo liver using glutethimide as a prototypic inducer. Antibodies to both this chicken cytochrome P-450 and to rabbit cytochrome P-450 form 3a from the IIE subfamily detected microsomal proteins of 50K induced by either ethanol or glutethimide in cultured chick embryo hepatocytes, indicating the antigenic homology of these subfamilies of cytochromes P-450 among different animal species. However, the antibody to glutethimide-induced chick cytochrome P-450 of 50K inhibited p-nitrophenol hydroxylase and benzphetamine demethylase activities 85-90% in microsomes from both ethanol- and glutethimide-treated cells, indicating similar epitopes whose integrity is required for catalytic activity. In contrast, antibodies to rabbit cytochrome P-450 form 3a had little to no effect on these same microsomal activities. Both ethanol and glutethimide induced microsomal p-nitrophenol and aniline hydroxylase activities in cultured chick embryo hepatocytes. In microsomes from ethanol-treated cells, the turnover of p-nitrophenol per cytochrome P-450 was 2-fold greater than that induced by glutethimide treatment, suggesting that ethanol is inducing a form of cytochrome P-450 that has greater catalytic activity with this substrate than glutethimide-induced forms. Thus, in cultured chick embryo hepatocytes, ethanol may induce cytochromes P-450 from both the IIB and IIE subfamilies.

Biochemical and immunochemical evidence for the induction of an ethanol-inducible cytochrome p-450 isozyme in male syrian golden hamsters☆

The effects of ethanol and of phenobarbital pretreatment on hamster microsomal metabolism of aniline and p-nitrophenol have been investigated. Hydroxylation of both compounds was increased over 2-fold by ethanol pretreatment, whereas phenobarbital pretreatment had little effect on either activity. Ethanol pretreatment had no effect on the specific content of total cytochrome P-450, while phenobarbital pretreatment increased the specific content 1.6-fold. Comparison of the specific activities for aniline hydroxylation and p-nitrophenol hydroxylation of individual microsomal samples from control, ethanol-pretreated and phenobarbital-pretreated animals showed a high degree of correlation (r2 = 0.98) consistent with the involvement of the same site for catalysis of these two compounds. Antibody to rabbit ethanol-inducible cytochrome P-450 (isozyme 3a) inhibited over 80% of the aniline (high affinity) and p-nitrophenol hydroxylase activities of microsomes from ethanol-treated hamsters. A comparison of the antibody-inhibitable rates for both hydroxylase activities with microsomes from untreated, ethanol- or phenobarbital-pretreated hamsters suggested that an isozyme homologous to rabbit isozyme 3a (hamster cytochrome P-450alc) was induced in hamsters about 3.5-fold by ethanol and was unaffected by phenobarbital. The induction of hamster cytochrome P-450alc was confirmed by immunoblot analysis of hamster microsomes. A single protein with a molecular weight of approximately 54,000 was recognized by antibody to the rabbit isozyme. Quantification of the immunoblots demonstrated that the hamster isozyme was increased about 3-fold, in good agreement with the induction determined by a comparison of the antibody-inhibitable rates. The results indicated that, although there was no change in the total spectrally observable cytochrome P-450, there was a marked change in the distribution of the isozymes of cytochrome P-450, with an increase in the alcohol-inducible form after 28-day ethanol consumption by chow-fed hamsters. This isozyme can be readily monitored by either high-affinity aniline or p-nitrophenol hydroxylation or by Western immunoblot analysis and appears to be the ethanol-inducible form of cytochrome P-450 in hamsters.