The organophosphate cholinesterase inhibitor paraoxon is hydrolysed by serum paraoxonase/arylesterase. A genetic polymorphism of paraoxonase (PON) activity which determines high versus low paraoxon hydrolysis in human populations, may determine sensitivity to parathion poisoning. We demonstrate that arginine at position 192 specifies high activity PON whereas a glutamine specifies the low activity variant. Allele-specific probes or restriction enzyme analysis of amplified DNA allow for the genotyping of individuals. PON maps to chromosome 7q21-22, proximal to the cystic fibrosis gene, in agreement with previous genetic linkage studies.

Inflammatory signaling plays a key role in tumor progression, and the pleiotropic cytokine interleukin-6 (IL-6) is an important mediator of protumorigenic properties. Activation of the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AHR) with exogenous ligands coupled with inflammatory signals can lead to synergistic induction of IL6 expression in tumor cells. Whether there are endogenous AHR ligands that can mediate IL6 production remains to be established. The indoleamine-2,3-dioxygenase pathway is a tryptophan oxidation pathway that is involved in controlling immune tolerance, which also aids in tumor escape. We screened the metabolites of this pathway for their ability to activate the AHR; results revealed that kynurenic acid (KA) is an efficient agonist for the human AHR. Structure-activity studies further indicate that the carboxylic acid group is required for significant agonist activity. KA is capable of inducing CYP1A1 messenger RNA levels in HepG2 cells and inducing CYP1A-mediated metabolism in primary human hepatocytes. In a human dioxin response element-driven stable reporter cell line, the EC(25) was observed to be 104nM, while in a mouse stable reporter cell line, the EC(25) was 10muM. AHR ligand competition binding assays revealed that KA is a ligand for the AHR. Treatment of MCF-7 cells with interleukin-1beta and a physiologically relevant concentration of KA (e.g., 100nM) leads to induction of IL6 expression that is largely dependent on AHR expression. Our findings have established that KA is a potent AHR endogenous ligand that can induce IL6 production and xenobiotic metabolism in cells at physiologically relevant concentrations.

Human microsomal epoxide hydrolase (mEH) is a biotransformation enzyme that metabolizes reactive epoxide intermediates to more water-soluble trans-dihydrodiol derivatives. We compared protein-coding sequences from six full-length human mEH DNA clones and assessed potential amino acid variation at seven positions. The prevalence of these variants was assessed in at least 37 unrelated individuals using polymerase chain reaction experiments. Only Tyr/His 113 (exon 3) and His/Arg 139 (exon 4) variants were observed. The genotype frequencies determined for residue 113 alleles indicate that this locus may not be in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium, whereas frequencies observed for residue 139 alleles were similar to expected values. Nucleotide sequences coding for the variant amino acids were constructed in an mEH cDNA using site-directed mutagenesis, and each was expressed in vitro by transient transfection of COS-1 cells. Epoxide hydrolase mRNA level, catalytic activity, and immunoreactive protein were evaluated for each construct. The results of these analyses demonstrated relatively uniform levels of mEH RNA expression between the constructs. mEH enzymatic activity and immunoreactive protein were strongly correlated, indicating that mEH specific activity was similar for each variant. However, marked differences were noted in the relative amounts of immunoreactive protein and enzymatic activity resulting from the amino acid substitutions. These data suggest that common human mEH amino acid polymorphisms may alter enzymatic function, possibly by modifying protein stability.

Both the human pregnane X receptor (hPXR) and constitutive androstane receptor (hCAR) are capable of regulating CYP3A4 and CYP2B6 gene expression. However, the majority of currently identified CYP3A4 and CYP2B6 inducers are confirmed activators of hPXR but not hCAR. To compare these receptors with respect to their chemical selectivities, 16 drugs known to induce CYP3A4 and/or CYP2B expression were evaluated for relative activation of hPXR versus hCAR. Because of the high basal but low chemical-induced activation of hCAR in immortalized cells, alternative methods were used to evaluate hCAR activation potential. Thirteen of the 16 compounds were classified as moderate to strong hPXR activators. In contrast, carbamazepine (CMZ), efavirenz (EFV), and nevirapine (NVP) were classified as negligible or weak hPXR activators at concentrations associated with efficacious CYP2B6 reporter or endogenous gene induction in primary human hepatocytes, suggesting potential activation of hCAR. Subsequent experiments demonstrated that these three drugs efficiently induced nuclear accumulation of in vivo-transfected enhanced yellow fluorescent protein-hCAR and significantly increased expression of a CYP2B6 reporter gene when hCAR was expressed in CAR Ϫ/Ϫ mice. In addition, using a recently identified, chemically responsive splice variant of hCAR (hCAR3), the hCAR activation profiles of the 16 compounds were evaluated. By combining results from the hPXR-and hCAR3-based reporter gene assays, these inducers were classified as hPXR, hCAR, or hPXR/hCAR dual activators. Our results demonstrate that CMZ, EFV, and NVP induce CYP2B6 and CYP3A4 preferentially through hCAR and that hCAR3 represents a sensitive tool for in vitro prediction of chemical-mediated human CAR activation.CYP3A4 and CYP2B6 are induced at the mRNA, protein, and activity levels by the same compounds, including rifampin, phenobarbital, clotrimazole, cyclophosphamide, calcium channel antagonists, HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors, and thiazolidinediones (Drocourt et al., 2001;Kocarek et al., 2002;Lindley et al., 2002;Sahi et al., 2003;Faucette et al., 2004). Coinduction of these enzymes is mediated through transcriptional activation of the corresponding genes by the nuclear receptors pregnane X receptor (PXR) and constitutive androstane receptor (CAR), which are capable of binding to the same response elements in the promoter regions of the CYP3A4 and CYP2B6 genes (Goodwin et al