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ABSTRACT:The selective estrogen receptor modulator, raloxifene, has been demonstrated as a potent uncompetitive inhibitor of human liver aldehyde oxidase-catalyzed oxidation of phthalazine, vanillin, and nicotine-⌬1(5)-iminium ion, with K i values of 0.87 to 1.4 nM. Inhibition was not time-dependent. Raloxifene has also been shown to be a noncompetitive inhibitor of an aldehyde oxidase-catalyzed reduction reaction of a hydroxamic acid-containing compound, with a K i of 51 nM. However, raloxifene had only small effects on xanthine oxidase, an enzyme related to aldehyde oxidase. In addition, several other compounds of the same therapeutic class as raloxifene were examined for their potential to inhibit aldehyde oxidase. However, none were as potent as raloxifene, since IC 50 values were orders of magnitude higher and ranged from 0.29 to 57 M. In an examination of analogs of raloxifene, it was shown that the bisphenol structure with a hydrophobic group on the 3-position of the benzthiophene ring system was the most important element that imparts inhibitory potency. The relevance of these data to the mechanistic understanding of aldehyde oxidase catalysis, as well as to the potential for raloxifene to cause drug interactions with agents for which aldehyde oxidase-mediated metabolism is important, such as zaleplon or famciclovir, is discussed.Aldehyde oxidase is an enzyme involved in the metabolism of drugs and other xenobiotics that possess aldehyde and azaheterocyclic substituents, among others (Beedham, 2002). It is a member of a family of enzymes referred to as molybdenum cofactor-containing enzymes that also includes xanthine oxidase, due to the presence of the unique molybdopterin prosthetic group. It is present in the liver, as well as some other tissues of humans and other mammalian species such as the rat, guinea pig, monkey, and rabbit. Aldehyde oxidase converts aldehydes to carboxylic acids and azaheterocyclic compounds to lactams using molecular oxygen as an electron acceptor. It can also catalyze reduction reactions of some drugs, with the drug that is reduced replacing oxygen as the electron acceptor.Drugs for which aldehyde oxidase plays the predominant role in metabolic clearance are few. A notable example is the recently introduced azaheterocyclic hypnotic agent, zaleplon (Kawashima et al., 1999;Lake et al., 2002), in which aldehyde oxidase generates the major metabolite 5-oxozaleplon as well as the corresponding 5-oxo analog of the N-dealkylated metabolite of zaleplon. Also, the bioactivation of famciclovir to the active antiviral agent penciclovir requires aldehyde oxidase-mediated metabolism (Clarke et al., 1995;Rashidi et al., 1997). Famciclovir is converted to the 6-oxo metabolite, which undergoes deesterification to penciclovir; also, the deesterified analog of famciclovir, 6-deoxypenciclovir, is oxidized by aldehyde oxidase to the active compound. Although it is not frequently involved in initial pathways of metabolism of drugs, ...