Conjugation of the linoleic acid oxidation product, 13-oxooctadeca-9,11-dienoic acid, a bioactive endogenous substrate for mammalian glutathione transferase.

The oxidation of linoleic acid leads to the generation of several products with biological activity, including 13-oxooctadeca-9,11-dienoic acid (13-OXO), a bioactive 2,4-dienone that has been linked to cell differentiation. In the current work, the conjugation of 13-OXO by human glutathione transferases (GSTs) of the alpha (A1-1, A4-4), mu (M1-1, M2-2) and pi (the allelic variants P1-1/ile, and P1-1/val) classes, and a rat theta (rT2-2) class enzyme has been evaluated. The kinetics and stereoselectivity of the production of the 13-OXO-glutathione conjugate (13-OXO-SG) have been examined. In contrast to many xenobiotic substrates, the endogenous substrate 13-OXO does not exhibit an appreciable non-enzymatic rate of conjugation under physiological conditions. Therefore, the GST-catalyzed conjugation takes on greater significance as it provides the only realistic means for formation of 13-OXO-SG in most biological systems. Alpha class enzymes are most efficient at catalyzing the formation of 13-OXO-SG with kcat/Km values of 8.9 mM(-1) s(-1) for GST A1-1 and 2.14 mM(-1) s(-1) for GST A4-4. In comparison, enzymes from the mu and pi classes exhibit specificity constants from 0.4 to 0.8 mM(-1) s(-1). Conjugation of 13-OXO with glutathione at C-9 of the substrate can yield a pair of diastereomers that can be resolved by chiral HPLC. GSTs from the mu and pi classes are the most stereoselective enzymes and there is no apparent relationship between catalytic efficiency and stereoselectivity. The role of GST in the metabolic disposition of the bioactive oxidation products of linoleic acid has implications for the regulation of normal cellular functions by these versatile enzymes.