Improved preparation and detection of cytochrome P450 isoforms using MS methods

Cytochromes P450 (CYPs) are a superfamily of mixed function oxidases, which in the liver have great significance to the pharmaceutical industry because their expression will determine the fate of most clinical agents. CYPs are also targets for inhibitors of hormone-dependent diseases and conversion of prodrugs to active agents in normal and cancer tissues. We have applied simple modifications to established methods of isolating CYPs, using 8 M urea to solubilise microsomal proteins and specific molecular weight gel bands for in-gel digestion in combination with nanoHPLC MALDI MS to acquire peptide MS/MS spectra for database searching. As a consequence of the changes we significantly improved the yield of proteomic data, identifying 26 mouse CYPs (CYP1a2, 2a4, 2a5, 2a12, 2b9, 2c29, 2c37, 2c39, 2c40, 2c50, 2c54, 2c70, 2d9, 2d10, 2d26, 2e1, 2f2, 2j5, 3a11, 3a13, 3a25, 3a41, 4a14, 4f14, 8b1 and 27a1) with an average sequence coverage of 30.1%, including some previously undetected highly homologous isoforms. In addition, other important enzymes in drug metabolism are also identified. There is a divergence of opinion over the expression of CYP1a1 in liver and we could not detect the presence of this isoform. In order to provide definitive evidence of the ability to detect CYP1a1, we analysed CHO cells transfected with human CYP1A1 and identified unique peptides that differentiated this isoform from human CYP1A2.