Novel human ocular glutathione S-transferases with high activity toward 4-hydroxynonenal

To study the distribution and expression of glutathione S-transferase isozymes involved in detoxification of endogenously generated toxic products of lipid peroxidation, namely, 4-hydroxynonenal (4-HNE) in human lens, retina, cornea, iris, ciliary body and to study their kinetic and structural properties.

The authors have previously cloned and sequenced cDNA of mouse mGSTA4-4, which shows high activity towards 4-HNE. They have expressed it in Escherichia coli and have raised antibodies against the recombinant mGSTA4-4. In the present study, these antibodies were used in Western blot analysis and immunoaffinity chromatography to study the expression and to purify the human ortholog(s) of mGSTA4-4 from ocular tissues.

Western blot analyses of human ocular tissues indicated that a glutathione S-transferases (GST) isozyme immunologically similar to mGSTA4-4 was expressed in cornea, retina, and iris and ciliary body, but not in lens. This isozyme designated as hGST 5.8 was purified to homogeneity from human retina, cornea, and iris and ciliary body by immunoabsorption on immobilized antibodies against mGSTA4-4. The human ortholog of mGSTA4-4, designated as hGST 5.8 purified from all these tissues and pI value of 5.8, subunit Mr value of 25 k and blocked N-terminal. Amino acid sequences of CNBr fragments of hGST 5.8 isozymes of human ocular tissues showed a high degree of primary structure homologies with the corresponding regions of mGSTA4-4. There were noticeable differences in the amino acid sequences of hGST 5.8 of cornea, retina, and iris and ciliary body, suggesting the presence of several closely related hGST 5.8 subunits in the ocular tissues. This heterogeneity was due to tissue-specific expression rather than simple allelic polymorphism. The hGST 5.8 had about sixfold to eightfold higher activity toward 4-hydroxynonenal than 1-chloro-2,4-dinitrobenzene, or CDNB. The catalytic efficiency (Kcat/Km) of ocular hGST 5.8 for 4-HNE was about 100-fold higher than those for the alpha, mu, or pi classes of GST. In addition, hGST 5.8 expressed glutathione peroxidase activity toward phospholipid hydroperoxides and GSH-conjugating activity toward 9,10-epoxy stearic acid.

The results indicate that hGST 5.8 isozyme(s) distinct from the alpha, mu, and pi classes of GSTs, are differentially expressed in human ocular tissues and may play an important role in protective mechanisms against endogenous toxicants generated during lipid peroxidation.