Dataset Information

Mapping of the Allosteric Site in Cholesterol Hydroxylase CYP46A1 for Efavirenz, a Drug That Stimulates Enzyme Activity.

ABSTRACT: Cytochrome P450 46A1 (CYP46A1) is a microsomal enzyme and cholesterol 24-hydroxylase that controls cholesterol elimination from the brain. This P450 is also a potential target for Alzheimer disease because it can be activated pharmacologically by some marketed drugs, as exemplified by efavirenz, the anti-HIV medication. Previously, we suggested that pharmaceuticals activate CYP46A1 allosterically through binding to a site on the cytosolic protein surface, which is different from the enzyme active site facing the membrane. Here we identified this allosteric site for efavirenz on CYP46A1 by using a combination of hydrogen-deuterium exchange coupled to MS, computational modeling, site-directed mutagenesis, and analysis of the CYP46A1 crystal structure. We also mapped the binding region for the CYP46A1 redox partner oxidoreductase and found that the allosteric and redox partner binding sites share a common border. On the basis of the data obtained, we propose the mechanism of CYP46A1 allostery and the pathway for the signal transmission from the P450 allosteric site to the active site.

SUBMITTER: Anderson KW

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4882454 | biostudies-literature | 2016 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Mapping of the Allosteric Site in Cholesterol Hydroxylase CYP46A1 for Efavirenz, a Drug That Stimulates Enzyme Activity.

Anderson Kyle W KW Mast Natalia N Hudgens Jeffrey W JW Lin Joseph B JB Turko Illarion V IV Pikuleva Irina A IA

The Journal of biological chemistry 20160407 22

Cytochrome P450 46A1 (CYP46A1) is a microsomal enzyme and cholesterol 24-hydroxylase that controls cholesterol elimination from the brain. This P450 is also a potential target for Alzheimer disease because it can be activated pharmacologically by some marketed drugs, as exemplified by efavirenz, the anti-HIV medication. Previously, we suggested that pharmaceuticals activate CYP46A1 allosterically through binding to a site on the cytosolic protein surface, which is different from the enzyme activ ...[more]

PMID: 27056331

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Project description:Cholesterol excess in the brain is mainly disposed via cholesterol 24-hydroxylation catalysed by cytochrome P450 46A1, a CNS-specific enzyme. Cytochrome P450 46A1 is emerging as a promising therapeutic target for various brain diseases with both enzyme activation and inhibition having therapeutic potential. The rate of cholesterol 24-hydroxylation determines the rate of brain cholesterol turnover and the rate of sterol flux through the plasma membranes. The latter was shown to affect membrane properties and thereby membrane proteins and membrane-dependent processes. Previously we found that treatment of 5XFAD mice, an Alzheimer's disease model, with a small dose of anti-HIV drug efavirenz allosterically activated cytochrome P450 46A1 in the brain and mitigated several disease manifestations. Herein, we generated Cyp46a1-/- 5XFAD mice and treated them, along with 5XFAD animals, with efavirenz to ascertain cytochrome P450 46A1-dependent and independent drug effects. Efavirenz-treated versus control Cyp46a1-/- 5XFAD and 5XFAD mice were compared for the brain sterol and steroid hormone content, amyloid β burden, protein and mRNA expression as well as synaptic ultrastructure. We found that the cytochrome P450 46A1-dependent efavirenz effects included changes in the levels of brain sterols, steroid hormones, and such proteins as glial fibrillary acidic protein, Iba1, Munc13-1, post-synaptic density-95, gephyrin, synaptophysin and synapsin-1. Changes in the expression of genes involved in neuroprotection, neurogenesis, synaptic function, inflammation, oxidative stress and apoptosis were also cytochrome P450 46A1-dependent. The total amyloid β load was the same in all groups of animals, except lack of cytochrome P450 46A1 decreased the production of the amyloid β40 species independent of treatment. In contrast, altered transcription of genes from cholinergic, monoaminergic, and peptidergic neurotransmission, steroid sulfation and production as well as vitamin D3 activation was the main CYP46A1-independent efavirenz effect. Collectively, the data obtained reveal that CYP46A1 controls cholesterol availability for the production of steroid hormones in the brain and the levels of biologically active neurosteroids. In addition, cytochrome P450 46A1 activity also seems to affect the levels of post-synaptic density-95, the main postsynaptic density protein, possibly by altering the calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II inhibitor 1 expression and activity of glycogen synthase kinase 3β. Even at a small dose, efavirenz likely acts as a transcriptional regulator, yet this regulation may not necessarily lead to functional effects. This study further confirmed that cytochrome P450 46A1 is a key enzyme for cholesterol homeostasis in the brain and that the therapeutic efavirenz effects on 5XFAD mice are likely realized via cytochrome P450 46A1 activation.

Project description:Huntington's disease is an autosomal dominant neurodegenerative disease caused by abnormal polyglutamine expansion in huntingtin (Exp-HTT) leading to degeneration of striatal neurons. Altered brain cholesterol homeostasis has been implicated in Huntington's disease, with increased accumulation of cholesterol in striatal neurons yet reduced levels of cholesterol metabolic precursors. To elucidate these two seemingly opposing dysregulations, we investigated the expression of cholesterol 24-hydroxylase (CYP46A1), the neuronal-specific and rate-limiting enzyme for cholesterol conversion to 24S-hydroxycholesterol (24S-OHC). CYP46A1 protein levels were decreased in the putamen, but not cerebral cortex samples, of post-mortem Huntington's disease patients when compared to controls. Cyp46A1 mRNA and CYP46A1 protein levels were also decreased in the striatum of the R6/2 Huntington's disease mouse model and in SThdhQ111 cell lines. In vivo, in a wild-type context, knocking down CYP46A1 expression in the striatum, via an adeno-associated virus-mediated delivery of selective shCYP46A1, reproduced the Huntington's disease phenotype, with spontaneous striatal neuron degeneration and motor deficits, as assessed by rotarod. In vitro, CYP46A1 restoration protected SThdhQ111 and Exp-HTT-expressing striatal neurons in culture from cell death. In the R6/2 Huntington's disease mouse model, adeno-associated virus-mediated delivery of CYP46A1 into the striatum decreased neuronal atrophy, decreased the number, intensity level and size of Exp-HTT aggregates and improved motor deficits, as assessed by rotarod and clasping behavioural tests. Adeno-associated virus-CYP46A1 infection in R6/2 mice also restored levels of cholesterol and lanosterol and increased levels of desmosterol. In vitro, lanosterol and desmosterol were found to protect striatal neurons expressing Exp-HTT from death. We conclude that restoring CYP46A1 activity in the striatum promises a new therapeutic approach in Huntington's disease.

Dataset Information

Mapping of the Allosteric Site in Cholesterol Hydroxylase CYP46A1 for Efavirenz, a Drug That Stimulates Enzyme Activity.

Publications

Mapping of the Allosteric Site in Cholesterol Hydroxylase CYP46A1 for Efavirenz, a Drug That Stimulates Enzyme Activity.

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