Michael Burczynski

Human dihydrodiol dehydrogenase (DD) isoforms are aldo-keto reductases (AKRs) that activate polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) by oxidizing trans-dihydrodiol proximate carcinogens to reactive and redox-active ortho-quinones. Of these, human AKR1C1 (DD1) and AKR1C2 (DD2) oxidize trans-7,8-dihydroxy-7,8-dihydrobenzo[a]pyrene to the cytotoxic and genotoxic metabolite benzo[ a]pyrene-7,8-dione (BPQ) with the highest catalytic efficiency. Exposure of HepG2 cells to a panel of inducers revealed that mRNA encoding one or more human AKR1C member(s) was induced (3to 10-fold) by benzo[a]pyrene and other polycyclic aromatic compounds (bifunctional inducers), electrophilic Michael acceptors and phenolic antioxidants (monofunctional inducers), and reactive oxygen species (ROS). The induction of AKR1C mRNA by bifunctional inducers was delayed with respect to the induction of CYP1A1 mRNA, and AKR1C mRNA was not induced by the nonmetabolizable aryl hydrocarbon receptor ligand 2,3,7,8tetrachlor...

Amino acids, the building blocks of proteins in the cells and tissues, are of fundamental importance for cell survival, maintenance, and proliferation. The liver plays a critical role in amino acid metabolism and detoxication of byproducts such as ammonia. Urea cycle disorders with hyperammonemia remain difficult to treat and eventually necessitate liver transplantation. In this study, ornithine transcarbamylase deficient (Otcspf-ash ) mouse model was used to test whether knockdown of a key glutamine metabolism enzyme glutaminase 2 (GLS2, gene name: Gls2) or glutamate dehydrogenase 1 (GLUD1, gene name: Glud1) could rescue the hyperammonemia and associated lethality induced by a high protein diet. We found that reduced hepatic expression of Gls2 but not Glud1 by AAV8-mediated delivery of a short hairpin RNA in Otcspf-ash mice diminished hyperammonemia and reduced lethality. Knockdown of Gls2 but not Glud1 in Otcspf-ash mice exhibited reduced body weight loss and increased plasma glutamine concentration. These data suggest that Gls2 hepatic knockdown could potentially help alleviate risk for hyperammonemia and other clinical manifestations of patients suffering from defects in the urea cycle. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Human dihydrodiol dehydrogenase (DD) isoforms are aldo-keto reductases (AKRs) that activate polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) by oxidizing trans-dihydrodiol proximate carcinogens to reactive and redox-active ortho-quinones. Of these, human AKR1C1 (DD1) and AKR1C2 (DD2) oxidize trans-7,8-dihydroxy-7,8-dihydrobenzo[a]pyrene to the cytotoxic and genotoxic metabolite benzo[a]pyrene-7,8-dione (BPQ) with the highest catalytic efficiency. Exposure of HepG2 cells to a panel of inducers revealed that mRNA encoding one or more human AKR1C member(s) was induced (3- to 10-fold) by benzo[a]pyrene and other polycyclic aromatic compounds (bi-functional inducers), electrophilic Michael acceptors and phenolic antioxidants (monofunctional inducers), and reactive oxygen species (ROS). The induction of AKR1C mRNA by bifunctional inducers was delayed with respect to the induction of CYP1A1 mRNA, and AKR1C mRNA was not induced by the nonmetabolizable aryl hydrocarbon receptor ligand 2,3,7,8-tetrach...

The application of translational medicine principles coincided with the advent of large-scale molecular profiling approaches (collectively referred to as “OMIC” approaches) which enabled scientists to evaluate biology on previously unprecedented scales and scope. OMIC approaches enable translational understanding in many ways, but one of the primary values of applying OMIC approaches to translational medicine lies in their ability to enable unbiased, empirical biomarker identification for various scientific questions of translational interest. The proper application of OMIC approaches in preclinical and clinical settings can provide researchers with a global view of molecular events in both target and nontarget tissues whether prior to disease onset, during the disease process, or after intervention via exposure to one or more therapeutics. This chapter reviews the principles of these approaches and how they can be applied to translational medicine questions of relevance in drug dev...

Pain medication plays an important role in the treatment of acute and chronic pain conditions, but some drugs, opioids in particular, have been overprescribed or prescribed without adequate safeguards, leading to an alarming rise in medication-related overdose deaths. The NIH Helping to End Addiction Long-term (HEAL) Initiative is a trans-agency effort to provide scientific solutions to stem the opioid crisis. One component of the initiative is to support biomarker discovery and rigorous validation in collaboration with industry leaders to accelerate high-quality clinical research into neurotherapeutics and pain. The use of objective biomarkers and clinical trial end points throughout the drug discovery and development process is crucial to help define pathophysiological subsets of pain, evaluate target engagement of new drugs and predict the analgesic efficacy of new drugs. In 2018, the NIH-led Discovery and Validation of Biomarkers to Develop Non-Addictive Therapeutics for Pain wo...

Huntington Disease (HD) is an incurable autosomal dominant neurodegenerative disorder driven by an expansion repeat giving rise to the mutant huntingtin protein (mHtt), which is known to disrupt a multitude of transcriptional pathways. Pridopidine, a small molecule in development for treatment of HD, has been shown to improve motor symptoms in HD patients. In HD animal models, pridopidine exerts neuroprotective effects and improves behavioral and motor functions. Pridopidine binds primarily to the sigma-1 receptor, (IC50 ~ 100 nM), which mediates its neuroprotective properties, such as rescue of spine density and aberrant calcium signaling in HD neuronal cultures. Pridopidine enhances brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) secretion, which is blocked by putative sigma-1 receptor antagonist NE-100, and was shown to upregulate transcription of genes in the BDNF, glucocorticoid receptor (GR), and dopamine D1 receptor (D1R) pathways in the rat striatum. The impact of different doses o...

A major metabolic route of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) activation proceeds through trans-dihydrodiol intermediates. We have previously shown that a member of the aldo-keto reductase (AKR) superfamily, rat liver dihydrodiol dehydrogenase (DD), catalyzes the NAD(P)-dependent oxidation of PAH trans-dihydrodiols with the concomitant production of reactive oxygen species and o-semiquinone anion radicals on route to cyto- and geno-toxic o-quinones. The relevance