Identification of Genetic Polymorphisms of CYP2W1 in the Three Main Chinese Ethnicities: Han, Tibetan, and Uighur

Optical substrates for drug-metabolizing enzymes: Recent advances and future perspectives

Drug-metabolizing enzymes (DMEs), a diverse group of enzymes responsible for the metabolic elimination of drugs and other xenobiotics, have been recognized as the critical determinants to drug safety and efficacy. Deciphering and understanding the key roles of individual DMEs in drug metabolism and toxicity, as well as characterizing the interactions of central DMEs with xenobiotics require reliable, practical and highly specific tools for sensing the activities of these enzymes in biological systems. In the last few decades, the scientists have developed a variety of optical substrates for sensing human DMEs, parts of them have been successfully used for studying target enzyme(s) in tissue preparations and living systems. Herein, molecular design principals and recent advances in the development and applications of optical substrates for human DMEs have been reviewed systematically. Furthermore, the challenges and future perspectives in this field are also highlighted. The presented information offers a group of practical approaches and imaging tools for sensing DMEs activities in complex biological systems, which strongly facilitates high-throughput screening the modulators of target DMEs and studies on drug/herb‒drug interactions, as well as promotes the fundamental researches for exploring the relevance of DMEs to human diseases and drug treatment outcomes.

Genetic polymorphisms of CYP2S1, CYP2J2 and CYP2R1 genes in three Chinese populations: Han, Tibetan and Uighur

AIM

Cytochrome P450 enzymes CYP2S1, CYP2J2 and CYP2R1 are of interest due to their unknown enzymatic function and disease-specific expression property. The aim of this study was to investigate the genetic variations of CYP2S1, CYP2J2 and CYP2R1 genes, and their polymorphic distribution in different Chinese populations.

MATERIALS & METHODS

All of the exons, exon-intron boundaries and 1 kb 5'-flanking region of the three genes were sequenced in 150 Chinese subjects.

RESULTS

There were 21, 15 and nine genetic variants identified in CYP2S1, CYP2J2 and CYP2R1 genes, respectively. The genetic polymorphisms of CYP2S1 and CYP2J2 showed significant difference. Thr353Ala variant in CYP2S1 protein was predicted to be consistently damaged. The hydrogen bond interactions were decreased in two mutants: Thr353Ala and Cys372Ser. -177C >T in CYP2S1 affected transcription factor EGR1 binding site.

CONCLUSION

This study highlights the importance of genetic polymorphism information on the CYP2S1, CYP2J2  and CYP2R1 genes in Chinese populations.

Genetic variation of cytochrome P450 in Uyghur Chinese population

Interindividual and interethnic variability of drug responses could be attributed to the differences of genetic polymorphisms in the drug metabolizing enzymes and transporters genes among the populations. Here we reviewed the studies of genetic variations in Uyghur Chinese of fifteen CYP450 genes including CYP1A1, CYP1A2, CYP2A6, CYP2B6, CYP2C8, CYP2C9, CYP2C19, CYP2D6, CYP2E1, CYP2J2, CYP2W1, CYP3A4, CYP3A5, CYP4A11, and CYP17A1, which totally covered 277 variants. We also collected the data of 277 variants covered in our study in two extensive population sequencing projects, the International HapMap Project (Hap-Map) and the 1000 Genomes Project and compared them with the data of Uyghur Chinese. The results suggested that remarkable differences of variants allele frequencies of CYP450 genes were existed among Uyghur Chinese and other world populations and drug doses should be adjusted clinically in Uyghur in contrast to Han Chinese and Caucasians.