Abstract

Following the finding that UGT2B7 catalyzes the transfer of the glycosyl group from both UDP-glucuronic acid (UDP-GlcA) and UDP-glucose (UDP-Glc) to an endothelin ET_A receptor antagonist, Compound A [(+)-(5S,6R,7R)-2-isopropylamino-7-[4-methoxy-2-((2R)-3-methoxy-2-methylpropyl)-5-(3,4-methylenedioxyphenyl)cyclopenteno[1,2-b] pyridine 6-carboxylic acid], to form an acyl glucuronide and a glucoside (Tang et al., 2003), two additional nucleotide sugars [UDP-galactose (UDP-gal) and UDP-N-acetyl glucosamine (UDP-GlcNAc)] were examined as cosubstrates in human liver microsomes. It was found that UDP-gal, but not UDP-GlcNAc, also served as a sugar donor primarily through catalysis by UGT2B7, although at a significantly reduced catalytic rate. These three UDP-sugars showed pH-dependent kinetics and appeared to compete with each other, with IC₅₀ values parallel to their respective apparent K_m values. In contrast, only UDP-GlcA served as the sugar donor for the conjugation of diclofenac, a known UGT2B7 substrate, with an apparent K_m for UDP-GlcA of 96 ± 17 μM. UDP-Glc and UDP-gal, two futile sugar donors for diclofenac, were found to competitively inhibit the glucuronidation of this aglycone. Different from the case with Compound A, UDP-Glc and UDP-gal displayed K_i values of 2054 ± 108 μM and 1277 ± 149 μM, >10-fold greater than the K_m for UDP-GlcA, indicating that these two nucleotide sugars were also capable of binding to the enzyme but with a lower affinity. The findings of this study indicate that the selectivity of UGT2B7 toward UDP-sugars is aglycone-dependent. With Compound A as the acceptor substrate, human UGT2B7 becomes more accommodative in the transfer of the glycosyl group from UDP-sugars beyond UDP-GlcA. The mechanism may involve enzyme conformational changes associated with Compound A binding to the enzyme.