P 140 - GSTP expression influences the metabolism and redox of cellular glutathione

Abstract

Recently we described the role of glutathione-S-transferase P-1 (GSTP) expression in regulating Nrf2 transcriptional activity by protein-protein interaction. A functional interplay between Nrf2 and GSTP to control glutathione (GSH) biosynthesis, detoxification function and signal transduction through protein Cys glutathionylation can be hypothesized. To explore such interplay the effect of GSTP gene manipulation on the cellular levels and redox of main thiols in murine embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs) was investigated. GSTP knockout MEFs showed increased levels of all the identified forms of thiols that included GSH, GSSG, GSSP, Cys, Cyss, CyssP, HCys, HCyss, HCyssP, γ-GluCys and CysGly. The exposure to the Se-organic thiol-peroxidase compound Ebselen, further and massively up-regulated GSH, Cys and HCys and their corresponding disulfides in GSTP-KO, but not in wild-type (WT) cells. GSSP (protein glutathionylation), and to a lower extent HCyssP, increased after treatment with Se-organic compounds only in WT cells (confirmed by both HPLC and immunoblot analysis). These findings confirms the role of GSTP as a feedback component of Nrf2 pathway (control of GSH levels) and identify with an unbiased approach the role of this gene in mediating protein glutathionylation signalling during the exposure to Se-organic thiol-peroxidases.