UGT2B7 (UDP-Glucuronosyltransferase-2B7) is a phase II

metabolism Metabolism (, from ''metabolē'', "change") is the set of life-sustaining chemical reactions in organisms. The three main functions of metabolism are: the conversion of the energy in food to energy available to run cellular processes; the co ...

isoenzyme found to be active in the

liver The liver is a major metabolic organ (anatomy), organ exclusively found in vertebrates, which performs many essential biological Function (biology), functions such as detoxification of the organism, and the Protein biosynthesis, synthesis of var ...

kidney In humans, the kidneys are two reddish-brown bean-shaped blood-filtering organ (anatomy), organs that are a multilobar, multipapillary form of mammalian kidneys, usually without signs of external lobulation. They are located on the left and rig ...

s, epithelial cells of the lower

gastrointestinal tract The gastrointestinal tract (GI tract, digestive tract, alimentary canal) is the tract or passageway of the Digestion, digestive system that leads from the mouth to the anus. The tract is the largest of the body's systems, after the cardiovascula ...

and also has been reported in the

brain The brain is an organ (biology), organ that serves as the center of the nervous system in all vertebrate and most invertebrate animals. It consists of nervous tissue and is typically located in the head (cephalization), usually near organs for ...

. In humans, UDP-Glucuronosyltransferase-2B7 is encoded by the ''UGT2B7''

gene In biology, the word gene has two meanings. The Mendelian gene is a basic unit of heredity. The molecular gene is a sequence of nucleotides in DNA that is transcribed to produce a functional RNA. There are two types of molecular genes: protei ...

Function

The UGTs serve a major role in the conjugation and subsequent elimination of potentially toxic xenobiotics and endogenous compounds. UGT2B7 has unique specificity for 3,4- catechol

estrogen Estrogen (also spelled oestrogen in British English; see spelling differences) is a category of sex hormone responsible for the development and regulation of the female reproductive system and secondary sex characteristics. There are three ...

s and estriol, suggesting that it may play an important role in regulating the level and activity of these potent estrogen metabolites. This enzyme is located on the

endoplasmic reticulum The endoplasmic reticulum (ER) is a part of a transportation system of the eukaryote, eukaryotic cell, and has many other important functions such as protein folding. The word endoplasmic means "within the cytoplasm", and reticulum is Latin for ...

and nuclear membranes of cells. Its function is to catalyse the conjugation of a wide variety of lipophilic aglycon substrates with glucuronic acid, using uridine diphosphate glucuronic acid. Together with UGT2B4, UGT2B7 is capable of glucosidation of hyodesoxycholic acid in the liver, but, unlike the 2B4 isoform, 2B7 is also able to glucuronidate various steroid hormones ( androsterone, epitestosterone) and

fatty acids In chemistry, in particular in biochemistry, a fatty acid is a carboxylic acid with an aliphatic chain, which is either saturated or unsaturated. Most naturally occurring fatty acids have an unbranched chain of an even number of carbon atoms, ...

. It is also able to conjugate major classes of drugs such as analgesics (

morphine Morphine, formerly also called morphia, is an opiate that is found naturally in opium, a dark brown resin produced by drying the latex of opium poppies (''Papaver somniferum''). It is mainly used as an analgesic (pain medication). There are ...

), carboxylic nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs ( ketoprofen), and anticarcinogens (''all-trans'' retinoic acid). UGT2B7 is the major enzyme isoform responsible for the metabolism of

, codeine, norcodeine and other opiates to their corresponding 3- and 6- glucuronides. For example, morphine metabolism produces

morphine-3-glucuronide Morphine-3-glucuronide is a metabolite of morphine produced by UGT2B7. It is not active as an opioid agonist, but does have some action as a convulsant, which does not appear to be mediated through opioid receptors, but rather through interacti ...

(M3G) which has no analgesic effect and

morphine-6-glucuronide Morphine-6-glucuronide (M6G) is a major active metabolite of morphine. M6G is formed from morphine by the enzyme UGT2B7. It has analgesic effects roughly half that of morphine. M6G can accumulate to toxic levels in kidney failure. History of di ...

(M6G), which has analgesic effects more potent than morphine. As a consequence, altered UGT2B7 activity can significantly affect both the effectiveness and side-effects of morphine, as well as some related opiate drugs.

Structure

No structure of a full human UGT enzyme has been determined yet, however Miley et al. resolved a partial UGT2B7 structure of the C-terminal portion showing two dimeric domains with Rossman-like folds in complex. The Rossman fold typically binds

nucleotide Nucleotides are Organic compound, organic molecules composed of a nitrogenous base, a pentose sugar and a phosphate. They serve as monomeric units of the nucleic acid polymers – deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and ribonucleic acid (RNA), both o ...

substrates, in this case the UDP-glucuronic acid cofactor involved in glucuronidation by UGT2B7. Generally, the

C-terminus The C-terminus (also known as the carboxyl-terminus, carboxy-terminus, C-terminal tail, carboxy tail, C-terminal end, or COOH-terminus) is the end of an amino acid chain (protein Proteins are large biomolecules and macromolecules that comp ...

of UGT enzymes is highly conserved and binds the UDP-glucuronic acid cofactor, while the

N-terminus The N-terminus (also known as the amino-terminus, NH2-terminus, N-terminal end or amine-terminus) is the start of a protein or polypeptide, referring to the free amine group (-NH2) located at the end of a polypeptide. Within a peptide, the amin ...

(not resolved in this structure) is responsible for substrate binding. This first resolved structure indicated that the C-terminus of one of the two dimers projected into the UDP-glucuronic acid

binding site In biochemistry and molecular biology, a binding site is a region on a macromolecule such as a protein that binds to another molecule with specificity. The binding partner of the macromolecule is often referred to as a ligand. Ligands may includ ...

of the second dimer, thus rendering the second dimer ineffective. Further studies have investigated dimerization of UGT enzyme polymorphisms and found both homodimer and heterodimer (with genetic polymorphisms of UGT2B7 or other UGT enzymes such as UGT1A1) formation are possible, with some combinations having an effect on enzyme activity.

Genetic polymorphism

UGT2B7 is considered to be a highly polymorphic gene. Various research efforts have investigated the potential effect of these polymorphic variants on glucuronidation activity of UGT2B7 and especially its clearance of administered

drug A drug is any chemical substance other than a nutrient or an essential dietary ingredient, which, when administered to a living organism, produces a biological effect. Consumption of drugs can be via insufflation (medicine), inhalation, drug i ...

s, including anticancer therapies. Decreased glucuronidation activity by genetically variant UGT2B7 could lead to increased toxicity due to elevated levels of the drug remaining or accumulating in a patient's organs especially liver, while increased activity could mean lower efficacy of the administered therapy due to lower than expected levels in the body. One study found that Han Chinese dye-industry workers exposed to

benzidine Benzidine (trivial name), also called 1,1'-biphenyl-4,4'-diamine (systematic name), is an organic compound with the chemical formula, formula (C6H4NH2)2. It is an aromatic amine. It is a component of a test for cyanide. Related derivatives are ...

were at higher risk for developing

bladder cancer Bladder cancer is the abnormal growth of cells in the bladder. These cells can grow to form a tumor, which eventually spreads, damaging the bladder and other organs. Most people with bladder cancer are diagnosed after noticing blood in thei ...

if they had the UGT2B7 single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) C802T encoding His268Tyr. The histidine to tyrosine mutation at residue 268 is located in the N-terminal portion of UGT2B7, which binds the xenobiotic substrate as opposed to the C-terminus which binds UDP-glucuronic acid. The speculated mechanism for this increased cancer risk involved increased glucuronidation of benzidine by the mutant UGT2B7 followed by cleavage of the glucuronidated benzidine at urine pH levels, releasing higher concentrations of benzidine in the bladder. Another study looked for a similar association of variant UGT2B7 G900A with the risk of

colorectal cancer Colorectal cancer (CRC), also known as bowel cancer, colon cancer, or rectal cancer, is the development of cancer from the Colon (anatomy), colon or rectum (parts of the large intestine). Signs and symptoms may include Lower gastrointestinal ...

but found no significant association. A study of erlotinib clearance in non-small cell lung cancer patients showed no statistical significance for SNPs of UGT2B7, which potentially metabolizes erlotinib as indicated by erlotinib inhibition of UGT2B7. An investigation into the clearance of diclofenac, a

nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAID) are members of a Indication (medicine), therapeutic drug class which Analgesic, reduces pain, Anti-inflammatory, decreases inflammation, Antipyretic, decreases fever, and Antithrombotic, prevents bl ...

(NSAID) that can cause serious drug-induced liver injury, showed that mutant UGT2B7 with the C802T SNP had a 6-fold lower clearance of diclofenac than

wild-type The wild type (WT) is the phenotype of the typical form of a species as it occurs in nature. Originally, the wild type was conceptualized as a product of the standard "normal" allele at a locus, in contrast to that produced by a non-standard, " ...

UGT2B7, possibly contributing to increased liver toxicity in patients with this mutation. Analysis of genetic polymorphisms of UGT2B7 in anti-

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...

drug-induced liver injury (ATLI) found no association between mutations of UGT2B7 and ATLI in the studied population. UGT2B7 is also known to be involved in the metabolism of

opioid Opioids are a class of Drug, drugs that derive from, or mimic, natural substances found in the Papaver somniferum, opium poppy plant. Opioids work on opioid receptors in the brain and other organs to produce a variety of morphine-like effects, ...

s via glucuronidation, and a study investigating the effect of polymorphisms on the

analgesic An analgesic drug, also called simply an analgesic, antalgic, pain reliever, or painkiller, is any member of the group of drugs used for pain management. Analgesics are conceptually distinct from anesthetics, which temporarily reduce, and in s ...

efficacy of buprenorphine found that the mutation C802T significantly worsened the analgesic response to buprenorphine after thoracic surgery, particularly at longer time-points (48 hours) where this long-lasting opioid is meant to remain effective. This same variant was found separately to have significant effects on the

blood plasma Blood plasma is a light Amber (color), amber-colored liquid component of blood in which blood cells are absent, but which contains Blood protein, proteins and other constituents of whole blood in Suspension (chemistry), suspension. It makes up ...

concentration of valproic acid administered to

epilepsy Epilepsy is a group of Non-communicable disease, non-communicable Neurological disorder, neurological disorders characterized by a tendency for recurrent, unprovoked Seizure, seizures. A seizure is a sudden burst of abnormal electrical activit ...

patients, which may account for some of the individual variability seen with this narrow- therapeutic window treatment. Both of these cases indicate decreased concentrations of drug compound probably due to increased glucuronidation activity of UGT2B7 with the C802T polymorphism. UGT2B7 C802T polymorphism effects

Since UGT2B7 is involved in glucuronidation of many xenobiotic compounds, and polymorphisms of UGT2B7 are prevalent, investigation into potential effects of polymorphisms of UGT2B7 on clearance of pharmacologically relevant compounds is often of interest, as shown by the variety of studies undertaken. The UGT2B7 C802T polymorphism, for example, has been noted at 73% prevalence in Asians and 46% prevalence in Caucasians; therefore, effects of this polymorphism could impact a large portion of the population. However, not all studies find significant changes in clearance due to these genetic polymorphisms. It is not always clear if this is due to the particular polymorphism not affecting enzyme activity of UGT2B7, or because the compound of interest is metabolized by various routes that can mask any differences due to changes in UGT2B7 activity.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ugt2b7 Transferases EC 2.4.1

Function

Structure

Genetic polymorphism

References

Further reading

External links