Evidence for fatty acid oxidation in human placenta, and the relationship of fatty acid oxidation enzyme activities with gestational age.

Fetal disorders of mitochondrial fatty acid oxidation have recently been associated with obstetric complications including pre-eclampsia, Hemolysis, Elevated Liver enzymes, Low Platelets (HELLP) syndrome, placental floor infarct, and Acute Fatty Liver of Pregnancy (AFLP). These diseases occur in about a third of the mothers who are heterozygous for a defect in long chain 3-hydroxyacyl-CoA dehydrogenase (LCHAD) enzyme and who bear a fetus homozygous for the defect. The mechanism of this association is not clearly understood. In this study, we provide evidence that the placenta may be the site of production of toxic intermediates of fatty acid metabolism, which accumulate to cause liver damage in the mother. We show that two critical enzymes of long chain fatty acid metabolism, long chain 3-hydroxyacyl-CoA dehydrogenase (LCHAD) and short chain 3-hydroxyacyl-CoA dehydrogenase (SCHAD), are active in the normal human placenta. There is an inverse correlation between the enzyme activity of both the enzymes and maternal gestational age during the second and third trimesters. We believe that the demonstration of fatty acid oxidation enzyme activity by the placenta is the first step towards assessing a possible role for fetal/placental fatty acid oxidation defects in the pathogenesis of a subset of pregnancy complications.

Antiproliferative gastrin/cholecystokinin receptor antagonists target the 78-kDa gastrin-binding protein.

Inhibition of colon carcinoma cell growth by the nonselective gastrin/cholecystokinin (CCK) receptor antagonists proglumide and benzotript provided evidence that gastrin functions as an autocrine growth factor. However, the molecular properties of the receptor mediating the antagonist effects have not been identified. A 78-kDa gastrin-binding protein (GBP), the sequence of which is related to the family of enzymes possessing enoyl-CoA hydratase and 3-hydroxyacyl-CoA dehydrogenase activities, has been previously purified from porcine gastric mucosal membranes. I now report that covalent cross-linking of 125I-labeled [Nle15]gastrin2,17 to the 78-kDa GBP is inhibited by crotonyl-CoA and by acetoacetyl-CoA. Gastrin, CCK, and their analogues also inhibit cross-linking, and the spectrum of analogue affinities correlates better with the values previously reported for binding to the gastrin/CCK-C receptor than with the values reported for binding to either the CCK-A or the gastrin/CCK-B receptor. Cross-linking is also inhibited by proglumide and benzotript, but no inhibition is seen with either the CCK-A receptor-selective antagonist L364,718 or the gastrin/CCK-B receptor-selective antagonist L365,260. The affinities of antagonists for the GBP correlate well with their affinities for the gastrin/CCK-C receptor and with their potencies for inhibition of colon carcinoma cell growth. I conclude that the 78-kDa gastrin-binding protein is (i) a member of the hydratase/dehydrogenase family of fatty acid oxidation enzymes, (ii) the gastrin/CCK-C receptor, and (iii) the target for the antiproliferative action of two gastrin/CCK receptor antagonists.

A common ancestor for Candida tropicalis and dehydrogenases that synthesize antibiotics and steroids.

Candida tropicalis peroxisomes contain a 905-residue trifunctional enzyme with hydratase-dehydrogenase-epimerase activity that is important in fatty acid beta-oxidation. At its amino terminus are two tandem copies of an approximately 280 residue domain of unknown function. We provide evidence that this domain is homologous to oxidoreductases used for metabolizing sugars and synthesizing antibiotics and steroids such as estradiol, androstenedione, corticosterone, and hydrocortisone. The trifunctional enzyme shows no sequence similarity to the bifunctional hydratase-dehydrogenase found in animal peroxisomes and plant glyoxysomes, which are homologs of each other. We suggest that the C. tropicalis trifunctional enzyme and the animal and plant bifunctional enzymes have different ancestors.