A reappraisal of the 6-O-desmethylnaproxen-sulfating activity of the human cytosolic sulfotransferases

Abstract

In this study, we aimed to obtain a comprehensive account of the human cytosolic sulfotransferases (SULTs) that are capable of sulfating 6-O-desmethylnaproxen (O-DMN), a major metabolite of naproxen. Of the 13 known human SULTs tested, 7 (SULT1A1, SULT1A2, SULT1A3, SULT1B1, SULT1C2, SULT1C4, and SULT1E1) displayed O-DMN-sulfating activity, when analyzed using an elevated substrate concentration (500 μmol·L−1) together with 14 μmol·L−1 of the sulfate donor, 3′-phosphoadenosine-5′-phosphosulfate (PAPS). At 10 μmol·L−1 O-DMN concentration, however, only SULT1A1 and SULT1A3 displayed detectable activity, with the former being nearly 2 orders of magnitude more active than the latter. A pH-dependence study indicated that SULT1A1 exhibited a broad pH optimum spanning pH 5.5–7. Kinetic parameters of the sulfation of O-DMN by SULT1A1 were determined. The production and release of sulfated O-DMN was demonstrated using cultured human HepG2 hepatoma cells and Caco-2 colon carcinoma cells. Moreover, assays using human organ specimens revealed that the O-DMN-sulfating activities present in the cytosols of liver and small intestine (at 502.5 and 497.2 pmol·min−1·(mg protein)−1, respectively) were much higher than those detected for the cytosols of lung and kidney. Taken together, these results provided relevant information concerning the sulfation of O-DMN both in vitro and in vivo.