Oxidative stress broadly impacts cells, initiating regulatory pathways as well as apoptosis and necrosis. A key molecular event is protein S-glutathionylation, and thioltransferase (glutaredoxin) is a specific and efficient catalyst of protein-SSG reduction. In this study 30-min exposure of H9 and Jurkat cells to cadmium inhibited intracellular protein-SSG reduction, and this correlated with inhibition of the thioltransferase system, consistent with thioltransferase being the primary intracellular catalyst of deglutathionylation. The thioredoxin system contributed very little to total deglutathionylase activity. Thioltransferase and GSSG reductase in situ displayed similar dose-response curves (50% inhibition near 10 M cadmium in extracellular buffer). Acute cadmium exposure also initiated apoptosis, with H9 cells being more sensitive than Jurkat. Moreover, transfection with antisense thioltransferase cDNA was incompatible with cell survival. Collectively, these data suggest that thioltransferase has a vital role in sulfhydryl homeostasis and cell survival. In separate experiments, cadmium inhibited the isolated component enzymes of the thioltransferase and thioredoxin systems, consistent with the vicinal dithiol nature of their active sites: thioltransferase (IC 50 Ϸ 1 M), GSSG reductase (IC 50 Ϸ 1 M), thioredoxin (IC 50 Ϸ 8 M), thioredoxin reductase (IC 50 Ϸ 0.2 M). Disruption of the vicinal dithiol on thioltransferase (via oxidation to C22-SS-C25; or C25S mutation) protected against cadmium, consistent with a dithiol chelation mechanism of inactivation.

Glutaredoxins are small, heat-stable proteins that exhibit a characteristic thioredoxin fold and a CXXC=S activesite motif. A variety of glutathione (GSH)-dependent catalytic activities have been attributed to the glutaredoxins, including reduction of ribonucleotide reductase, arsenate, and dehydroascorbate; assembly of iron sulfur cluster complexes; and protein glutathionylation and deglutathionylation. Catalysis of reversible protein glutathionylation by glutaredoxins has been implicated in regulation of redox signal transduction and sulfhydryl homeostasis in numerous contexts in health and disease. This forum review is presented in two parts. Part I is focused primarily on the mechanism of the deglutathionylation reaction catalyzed by prototypical dithiol glutaredoxins, especially human Grx1 and Grx2. Grx-catalyzed protein deglutathionylation proceeds by a nucleophilic, double-displacement mechanism in which rate enhancement is attributed to special reactivity of the low pK a cysteine at its active site, and to increased nucleophilicity of the second substrate, GSH. Glutaredoxins (and Grx domains) have been identified in most organisms, and many exhibit deglutathionylation or other activities or both. Further characterization according to glutathionyl selectivity, physiological substrates, and intracellular roles may lead to subclassification of this family of enzymes. Part II presents potential mechanisms for in vivo regulation of Grx activity, providing avenues for future studies. Antioxid. Redox Signal. 11, 1059-1081.Part I: Glutaredoxins and Catalysis of Thiol-Disulfide Exchange G lutaredoxins are GSH-disulfide oxidoreductases reported to catalyze a variety of GSH-dependent thioldisulfide exchange reactions including protein glutathionylation and deglutathionylation, turnover of ribonucleotide reductase, and reduction of dehydroascorbate and arsenate; and some glutaredoxins are also implicated in FeS cluster homeostasis (reviewed in refs. 68, 80, 81). Among the reported catalytic activities of the glutaredoxins, protein deglutathionylation (reduction of protein-glutathione mixed disulfides, protein-SSG) has received much attention because of its regulatory roles in redox signal transduction and sulfhydryl homeostasis (reviewed in refs. 23, 80). Glutathionylation is an oxidative posttranslational modification that occurs on some protein cysteines under basal conditions [e.g., b-actin (137), mitochondrial complex II (19)]; for others, it is a transient modification that occurs during oxidative stresses such as ischemia=reperfusion [e.g., a-actin (18), GAPDH (26), mitochondrial complex I (56)]. For many proteins, glutathionylation affects function, and thus the reversible glutathionylation of specific proteins has been implicated in regulation of cellular homeostasis in health and disease (reviewed in refs. 23, 80). Grx is the primary intracellular deglutathionylating enzyme in mammalian cells (21,52), and manipulation of Grx levels has been shown to affect protein glutathionylation status and, subs...

Human thioltransferase (TTase) is a 12 kDa thiol-disulfide oxidoreductase that appears to play a critical role in maintaining the redox environment of the cell. TTase acts as a potent and specific reducing agent for protein-S-S-glutathione mixed disulfides (protein-SSG) likely formed during oxidative stress or as redox intermediates in signal transduction pathways. Accordingly, the catalytic cycle of thioltransferase itself involves a covalent glutathionyl enzyme disulfide intermediate (TTase-C22-SSG). To understand the molecular basis of TTase specificity for the glutathione moiety, we engineered a quadruple Cys to Ser mutant of human TTase (C7S, C25S, C78S, and C82S) which retains only the active site cysteine residue (C22), and we solved its high-resolution NMR solution structure in the mixed disulfide intermediate with glutathione (QM-TTase-SSG). This mutant which cannot form a C22-S-S-C25 intramolecular disulfide displays the same catalytic efficiency (Vmax/KM) and specificity for glutathionyl mixed disulfide substrates as wild-type TTase, indicating that the Cys-25-SH moiety is not required for catalysis or glutathionyl specificity. The structure of human thioltransferase is characterized by a thioredoxin-like fold which comprises a four-stranded central beta-sheet flanked on each side by alpha-helices. The disulfide-adducted glutathione in the TTase-SSG complex has an extended conformation and is localized in a cleft near the protein surface encompassing the residues from helices-alpha2,alpha3, the active site loop, and the loop connecting helix-alpha3 and strand-beta3. Numerous van der Waals and electrostatic interactions between the protein and the glutathione moiety are identified as contributing to stabilization of the complex and confering the substrate specificity. Comparison of the human thioltransferase with other thiol-disulfide oxidoreductases reveals structural and functional differences.