H. Chen et Mr. Juchau, Recombinant human glutathione S-transferases catalyse enzymic isomerization of 13-cis-retinoic acid to all-trans-retinoic acid in vitro, BIOCHEM J, 336, 1998, pp. 223-226
The steric conversion of 13-cis-retinoic acid (13-cRA) to all-trans-retinoi
c acid (t-RA) has been proposed as an activation mechanism for the observed
therapeutic and teratogenic activities of 13-cRA. Here we have investigate
d the catalysis of isomerization of 13-cRA to t-RA by recombinant human glu
tathione S-transferases (GSTs). Substrate was incubated with GST in 0.1 M s
odium phosphate buffer, pH 7.5, at 37 degrees C in total darkness. The t-RA
generated was measured quantitatively by HPLC. Under the reaction conditio
ns used, GSTP1-1 was far more effective than human GSTM1-1 or human GSTA1-1
in catalysing the isomerization reaction. The reaction catalysed by GSTP1-
1 showed substrate saturation and the K-m and V-max values for the reaction
were approx. 7 mu M and 650 pmol/min per nmol respectively. The reaction r
ate increased linearly with increasing enzyme concentration. The reaction w
as inhibited both by heat treatment and by S-decylglutathione (a potent inh
ibitor of transferase activity associated with GST). Additions of polyclona
l rabbit antiserum for human GSTP1-1 to the reaction resulted in a signific
ant decrease in generation of t-RA (70-80 %). In addition, ethacrynic acid,
a selective substrate for Pi isoforms of GST, also inhibited the isomeriza
tion of 13-cRA to t-RA catalysed by GSTP1-1. Under the same reaction condit
ions, GSTP1-1 was much less effective in catalysing the steric conversion o
f 9-cis-retinoic acid to t-RA, indicating that the enzyme was stereospecifi
c for the conversion of 13-cRA to t-RA. These observations suggest that enz
ymic catalysis was the primary mechanism for the GSTP1-1-dependent conversi
on of 13-cRA to t-RA. Reactions catalysed by a purified rat hepatic GST Pi
isoenzyme proceeded more slowly than reactions catalysed by human GSTP1-1.
Comparative studies also showed that there were marked species differences
in catalytic activities between various purified mammalian hepatic GST mixt
ures.