Inhibition of gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase activity decreases intracellular cysteine levels in cervical carcinoma

SAR of L-ABBA analogs for GGT1 inhibitory activity and L-ABBA's effect on plasma cysteine and GSH species

Gamma-glutamyl transferase 1 (GGT1) is a critical enzyme involved in the hydrolysis and/or transfer of gamma-glutamyl groups of glutathione, which helps maintain cysteine levels in plasma. In this study, we synthesized L-ABBA analogs to investigate their inhibitory effect on GGT1 hydrolysis and transpeptidase activity, with the goal of defining the pharmacophore of L-ABBA. Our structure-activity relationship (SAR) study revealed that an α-COO^- and α-NH₃⁺ group, as well as a two-CH₂ unit distance between α-C and boronic acid, are essential for the activity. The addition of an R (alkyl) group at the α-C reduced the activity of GGT1 inhibition, with L-ABBA being the most potent inhibitor among the analogs. Next, we investigated the impact of L-ABBA on plasma levels of cysteine and GSH species, with the expectation of observing reduced cysteine levels and enhanced GSH levels due to its GGT1 inhibition. We administered L-ABBA intraperitoneally and determined the plasma levels of cysteine, cystine, GSH, and GSSG using LCMS. Our results showed time- and L-ABBA dose-dependent changes in total plasma cysteine and GSH levels. This study is the first to demonstrate the regulation of plasma thiol species upon GGT1 inhibition, with plasma cystine levels reduced by up to ∼75% with L-ABBA (0.3 mg/dose). Cancer cells are highly dependent on the uptake of cysteine from plasma for maintaining high levels of intracellular glutathione. Thus, our findings suggest that GGT1 inhibitors, such as L-ABBA, have a potential to be used for GSH reduction thereby inducing oxidative stress in cancer cells and reducing their resistance to many chemotherapeutic agents.

Design and evaluation of novel analogs of 2-amino-4-boronobutanoic acid (ABBA) as inhibitors of human gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase

Inhibitors of gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase (GGT1, aka gamma-glutamyl transferase) are needed for the treatment of cancer, cardiovascular illness and other diseases. Compounds that inhibit GGT1 have been evaluated in the clinic, but no inhibitor has successfully demonstrated specific and systemic GGT1 inhibition. All have severe side effects. L-2-amino-4‑boronobutanoic acid (l-ABBA), a glutamate analog, is the most potent GGT1 inhibitor in vitro. In this study, we have solved the crystal structure of human GGT1 (hGGT1) with ABBA bound in the active site. The structure was interrogated to identify interactions between the enzyme and the inhibitor. Based on these data, a series of novel ABBA analogs were designed and synthesized. Their inhibitory activity against the hydrolysis and transpeptidation activities of hGGT1 were determined. The lead compounds were crystalized with hGGT1 and the structures solved. The kinetic data and structures of the complexes provide new insights into the critical role of protein structure dynamics in developing compounds for inhibition of hGGT1.

Sulfur-containing histidine compounds inhibit γ-glutamyl transpeptidase activity in human cancer cells

γ-Glutamyl transpeptidase (GGT) is an enzyme located on the surface of cellular membranes and involved in GSH metabolism and maintenance of redox homeostasis. High GGT expression on tumor cells is associated with increased cell proliferation and resistance against chemotherapy. GGT inhibitors evaluated so far in clinical trials are too toxic for human use. In this study, using enzyme kinetics analyses, we demonstrate that ovothiols, 5(Nπ)-methyl thiohistidines of marine origin, act as noncompetitive inhibitors of GGT, with an apparent K_i of 21 μm, when we fixed the concentrations of the donor substrate. We found that these compounds are more potent than the known GGT inhibitor 6-diazo-5-oxo-l-norleucine and are not toxic toward human embryonic cells. In particular, cellular process-specific fluorescence-based assays revealed that ovothiols induce a mixed cell-death phenotype of apoptosis and autophagy in GGT-overexpressing cell lines, including human liver cancer and chronic B leukemic cells. The findings of our study provide the basis for further development of 5-thiohistidines as therapeutics for GGT-positive tumors and highlight that GGT inhibition is involved in autophagy.

Gamma-Glutamyltransferase 1 Promotes Clear Cell Renal Cell Carcinoma Initiation and Progression

Clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) is the most common subtype of kidney cancer. While the localized form of this disease can be treated surgically, advanced and metastatic stages are resistant to chemotherapies. Although more innovative treatments, such as targeted or immune-based therapies, exist, the need for new therapeutic options remains. ccRCC presents unique metabolic signatures and multiple studies have reported a significant increase in levels of reduced glutathione (GSH) and its precursors in ccRCC tumor samples compared with normal kidney tissues. These observations led us to investigate the effects of blocking the GSH pathway, particularly the gamma-glutamyltransferase 1 (GGT1) enzyme, in multiple ccRCC cell lines. In this study, we provide in vitro and in vivo evidence that GGT1/GSH pathway inhibition impacts ccRCC cell growth, through increased cell-cycle arrest. Of note, GGT1 inhibition also impairs ccRCC cell migration. Finally, pharmacologic GSH pathway inhibition decreases ccRCC cell proliferation and increases sensitivity to standard chemotherapy. Our results suggest that GGT1/GSH pathway inhibition represents a new strategy to overcome ccRCC chemoresistance. IMPLICATIONS: GGT1/GSH pathway inhibition represents a promising therapeutic strategy to overcome chemoresistance and inhibit progression of ccRCC tumors.

Phosphonate-based irreversible inhibitors of human γ-glutamyl transpeptidase (GGT). GGsTop is a non-toxic and highly selective inhibitor with critical electrostatic interaction with an active-site residue Lys562 for enhanced inhibitory activity

γ-Glutamyl transpeptidase (GGT, EC 2.3.2.2) that catalyzes the hydrolysis and transpeptidation of glutathione and its S-conjugates is involved in a number of physiological and pathological processes through glutathione metabolism and is an attractive pharmaceutical target. We report here the evaluation of a phosphonate-based irreversible inhibitor, 2-amino-4-{[3-(carboxymethyl)phenoxy](methoyl)phosphoryl}butanoic acid (GGsTop) and its analogues as a mechanism-based inhibitor of human GGT. GGsTop is a stable compound, but inactivated the human enzyme significantly faster than the other phosphonates, and importantly did not inhibit a glutamine amidotransferase. The structure-activity relationships, X-ray crystallography with Escherichia coli GGT, sequence alignment and site-directed mutagenesis of human GGT revealed a critical electrostatic interaction between the terminal carboxylate of GGsTop and the active-site residue Lys562 of human GGT for potent inhibition. GGsTop showed no cytotoxicity toward human fibroblasts and hepatic stellate cells up to 1mM. GGsTop serves as a non-toxic, selective and highly potent irreversible GGT inhibitor that could be used for various in vivo as well as in vitro biochemical studies.

Gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase: redox regulation and drug resistance

The expression of gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase (GGT) is essential to maintaining cysteine levels in the body. GGT is a cell surface enzyme that hydrolyzes the gamma-glutamyl bond of extracellular reduced and oxidized glutathione, initiating their cleavage into glutamate, cysteine (cystine), and glycine. GGT is normally expressed on the apical surface of ducts and glands, salvaging the amino acids from glutathione in the ductal fluids. GGT in tumors is expressed over the entire cell membrane and provides tumors with access to additional cysteine and cystine from reduced and oxidized glutathione in the blood and interstitial fluid. Cysteine is rate-limiting for glutathione synthesis in cells under oxidative stress. The induction of GGT is observed in tumors with elevated levels of intracellular glutathione. Studies in models of hepatocarcinogenesis show that GGT expression in foci of preneoplastic hepatocytes provides a selective advantage to the cells during tumor promotion with agents that deplete intracellular glutathione. Similarly, expression of GGT in tumors enables cells to maintain elevated levels of intracellular glutathione and to rapidly replenish glutathione during treatment with prooxidant anticancer therapy. In the clinic, the expression of GGT in tumors is correlated with drug resistance. The inhibitors of GGT block GGT-positive tumors from accessing the cysteine in extracellular glutathione. They also inhibit GGT activity in the kidney, which results in the excretion of GSH in the urine and a rapid decrease in blood cysteine levels, leading to depletion of intracellular GSH in both GGT-positive and GGT-negative tumors. GGT inhibitors are being developed for clinical use to sensitize tumors to chemotherapy.

γ-Glutamyltranspeptidases: sequence, structure, biochemical properties, and biotechnological applications

γ-Glutamyltranspeptidases (γ-GTs) are ubiquitous enzymes that catalyze the hydrolysis of γ-glutamyl bonds in glutathione and glutamine and the transfer of the released γ-glutamyl group to amino acids or short peptides. These enzymes are involved in glutathione metabolism and play critical roles in antioxidant defense, detoxification, and inflammation processes. Moreover, γ-GTs have been recently found to be involved in many physiological disorders, such as Parkinson's disease and diabetes. In this review, the main biochemical and structural properties of γ-GTs isolated from different sources, as well as their conformational stability and mechanism of catalysis, are described and examined with the aim of contributing to the discussion on their structure-function relationships. Possible applications of γ-glutamyltranspeptidases in different fields of biotechnology and medicine are also discussed.

Acceleration of anaerobic cysteine transformations to sulfane sulfur consequent to γ-glutamyl transpeptidase inhibition

Toxicity of drugs and radiation in the cells is largely dependent on the level of thiols. In the present studies, an attempt has been made to inhibit γ-glutamyl transpeptidase (γGT) activity in EAT-bearing animals tissue. We have expected that administration of γGT inhibitors: acivicin and 1,2,3,4-tetrahydroisoquinoline (TIQ) may influence GSH/γ–glutamyl transpeptidase (γGT) system in the regulation of cysteine concentration and anaerobic cysteine metabolism in normal and cancer cells. Development of Ehrlich ascites tumor in mice enhances peroxidative processes, diminishes levels of nonprotein thiols (NPSH) and sulfane sulfur, and lowers activities of enzymes involved in its formation and transfer in the liver and kidney. Although γGT inhibitors further decrease NPSH level, they increase cysteine and sulfane sulfur levels. This means that upon γGT inhibition, cysteine can be efficiently acquired by normal liver and kidney cells via another pathway, that is so productive that sulfane sulfur level and intensity of anaerobic cysteine metabolism even rise.

Divergent effects of compounds on the hydrolysis and transpeptidation reactions of γ-glutamyl transpeptidase

A novel class of inhibitors of the enzyme γ-glutamyl transpeptidase (GGT) were evaluated. The analog OU749 was shown previously to be an uncompetitive inhibitor of the GGT transpeptidation reaction. The data in this study show that it is an equally potent uncompetitive inhibitor of the hydrolysis reaction, the primary reaction catalyzed by GGT in vivo. A series of structural analogs of OU749 were evaluated. For many of the analogs, the potency of the inhibition differed between the hydrolysis and transpeptidation reactions, providing insight into the malleability of the active site of the enzyme. Analogs with electron withdrawing groups on the benzosulfonamide ring, accelerated the hydrolysis reaction, but inhibited the transpeptidation reaction by competing with a dipeptide acceptor. Several of the OU749 analogs inhibited the transpeptidation reaction by slow onset kinetics, similar to acivicin. Further development of inhibitors of the GGT hydrolysis reaction is necessary to provide new therapeutic compounds.

Inhibiting Glutathione Metabolism in Lung Lining Fluid as a Strategy to Augment Antioxidant Defense

Glutathione is abundant in the lining fluid that bathes the gas exchange surface of the lung. On the one hand glutathione in this extracellular pool functions in antioxidant defense to protect cells and proteins in the alveolar space from oxidant injury; on the other hand, it functions as a source of cysteine to maintain cellular glutathione and protein synthesis. These seemingly opposing functions are regulated through metabolism by gamma-glutamyl transferase (GGT, EC 2.3.2.2). Even under normal physiologic conditions, lung lining fluid (LLF) contains a concentrated pool of GGT activity exceeding that of whole lung by about 7-fold and indicating increased turnover of glutathione at the epithelial surface of the lung. With oxidant stress LLF GGT activity is amplified even further as glutathione turnover is accelerated to meet the increased demands of cells for cysteine. Mouse models of GGT deficiency confirmed this biological role of LLF GGT activity and revealed the robust expansiveness and antioxidant capacity of the LLF glutathione pool in the absence of metabolism. Acivicin, an irreversible inhibitor of GGT, can be utilized to augment LLF fluid glutathione content in normal mice and novel GGT inhibitors have now been defined that provide advantages over acivicin. Inhibiting LLF GGT activity is a novel strategy to selectively augment the extracellular LLF glutathione pool. The enhanced antioxidant capacity can maintain lung epithelial cell integrity and barrier function under oxidant stress.

A novel, species-specific class of uncompetitive inhibitors of gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase

Expression of gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase (GGT) in tumors contributes to resistance to radiation and chemotherapy. GGT is inhibited by glutamine analogues that compete with the substrate for the gamma-glutamyl binding site. However, the glutamine analogues that have been evaluated in clinical trials are too toxic for use in humans. We have used high throughput screening to evaluate small molecules for their ability to inhibit GGT and have identified a novel class of inhibitors that are not glutamine analogues. These compounds are uncompetitive inhibitors, binding the gamma-glutamyl enzyme complex. OU749, the lead compound, has an intrinsic K(i) of 17.6 microm. It is a competitive inhibitor of the acceptor glycyl-glycine, which indicates that OU749 occupies the acceptor site while binding to the gamma-glutamyl substrate complex. OU749 is more than 150-fold less toxic than the GGT inhibitor acivicin toward dividing cells. Inhibition of GGT by OU749 is species-specific, inhibiting GGT isolated from human kidney with 7-10-fold greater potency than GGT isolated from rat or mouse kidney. OU749 does not inhibit GGT from pig cells. Human GGT expressed in mouse fibroblasts is inhibited by OU749 similarly to GGT from human cells, which indicates that the species specificity is determined by differences in the primary structure of the protein rather than species-specific, post-translational modifications. These studies have identified a novel class of inhibitors of GGT, providing the basis for further development of a new group of therapeutics that inhibit GGT by a mechanism distinct from the toxic glutamine analogues.

Design, synthesis, and evaluation of gamma-phosphono diester analogues of glutamate as highly potent inhibitors and active site probes of gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase

Gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase (GGT, EC 2.3.2.2) catalyzes the transfer of the gamma-glutamyl group of glutathione and related gamma-glutamyl amides to water (hydrolysis) or to amino acids and peptides (transpeptidation) and plays a central role in glutathione metabolism. GGT is involved in a number of biological events, such as drug resistance and metastasis of cancer cells by detoxification of xenobiotics and reactive oxygen species through glutathione metabolism, and is also implicated in physiological disorders, such as Parkinson's disease, neurodegerative disease, diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases. In this study, we designed, synthesized, and evaluated a series of gamma-phosphono diester analogues of glutamate as transition-state mimic inhibitors of GGT. The electrophilic phosphonate diesters served as highly potent mechanism-based inhibitors that caused the time-dependent and irreversible inhibition of both the E. coli and human enzymes, probably by phosphonylating the catalytic Thr residue of the enzyme. In particular, one of the inhibitors exhibited more than 6000 times higher activity toward human GGT than acivicin, a classical but nonselective inhibitor of GGT. The dependence of the inactivation rate on the leaving group ability of the phosphonates (Brønsted plot) revealed that the phosphonylation of the catalytic Thr residue proceeded via a dissociative transition-state with substantial bond cleavage between the phosphorus and the leaving group for both E. coli and human GGTs. The binding site of GGT for the Cys-Gly moiety of glutathione or for the acceptor molecules was probed by the phosphonate diesters to reveal a significant difference in the mechanism of substrate recognition between E. coli and human GGT. Thus, in the human enzyme, a specific residue in the Cys-Gly binding site played a critical role in recognizing the Cys-Gly moiety or the acceptor molecules by interacting with the C-terminal carboxy group, whereas the Cys side chain and the Cys-Gly amide bond were not recognized significantly. In contrast, the E. coli enzyme was a nonselective enzyme that accommodated substrates without specifically recognizing the C-terminal carboxy group of the Cys-Gly moiety of gamma-glutamyl compounds or the acceptor molecules. The phosphonate diester-based GGT inhibitors shown here should serve as a blue print for the future design of highly selective GGT inhibitors for use as drug leads and biological probes that gain insight into the hitherto undefined physiological roles of GGT and the relationships between GGT and a variety of diseases.

Gamma-(monophenyl)phosphono glutamate analogues as mechanism-based inhibitors of gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase

Gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase (GGT, EC 2.3.2.2) catalyzes the hydrolysis and transpeptidation of extracellular glutathione and plays a central role in glutathione homeostasis. We report here the synthesis and evaluation of a series of hydrolytically stable gamma-(monophenyl)phosphono glutamate analogues with varying electron-withdrawing para substituents on the leaving group phenols as mechanism-based and transition-state analogue inhibitors of Escherichia coli and human GGTs. The monophenyl phosphonates caused time-dependent and irreversible inhibition of both the E. coli and human enzymes probably by phosphonylating the catalytic Thr residue of the enzyme. The inactivation rate of E. coli GGT was highly dependent on the leaving group ability of phenols with electron-withdrawing groups substantially accelerating the rate (Brønsted betalg = -1.4), whereas the inactivation of human GGT was rather slow and almost independent on the nature of the leaving group. The inhibition potency and profiles of the phosphonate analogues were compared to those of acivicin, a classical inhibitor of GGT, suggesting that the phosphonate-based glutamate analogues served as a promising candidate for potent and selective GGT inhibitors.