Isothermal Titration Calorimetry Enables Rapid Characterization of Enzyme Kinetics and Inhibition for the Human Soluble Epoxide Hydrolase

Anal Chem. 2019 Dec 3;91(23):14865-14872. doi: 10.1021/acs.analchem.9b01847. Epub 2019 Nov 12.

Abstract

Isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC) is conventionally used to acquire thermodynamic data for biological interactions. In recent years, ITC has emerged as a powerful tool to characterize enzyme kinetics. In this study, we have adapted a single-injection method (SIM) to study the kinetics of human soluble epoxide hydrolase (hsEH), an enzyme involved in cardiovascular homeostasis, hypertension, nociception, and insulin sensitivity through the metabolism of epoxy-fatty acids (EpFAs). In the SIM method, the rate of reaction is determined by monitoring the thermal power, while the substrate is being depleted, overcoming the need for synthetic substrates and reducing postreaction processing. Our results show that ITC enables the detailed, rapid, and reproducible characterization of the hsEH-mediated hydrolysis of several natural EpFA substrates. Furthermore, we have applied a variant of the single-injection ITC method for the detailed description of enzyme inhibition, proving the power of this approach in the rapid screening and discovery of new hsEH inhibitors using the enzyme's physiological substrates. The methods described herein will enable further studies on EpFAs' metabolism and biology, as well as drug discovery investigations to identify and characterize hsEH inhibitors. This also promises to provide a general approach for the characterization of lipid catalysis, given the challenges that lipid metabolism studies pose to traditional spectroscopic techniques.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adamantane / analogs & derivatives
  • Adamantane / chemistry
  • Biocatalysis
  • Calorimetry / methods*
  • Enzyme Assays*
  • Epoxide Hydrolases / antagonists & inhibitors
  • Epoxide Hydrolases / chemistry*
  • Epoxide Hydrolases / metabolism
  • Epoxy Compounds / chemistry*
  • Epoxy Compounds / metabolism
  • Fatty Acids / chemistry*
  • Fatty Acids / metabolism
  • Flow Injection Analysis / methods
  • Humans
  • Hydrolysis
  • Kinetics
  • Lauric Acids / chemistry
  • Lipid Metabolism
  • Recombinant Proteins / chemistry
  • Recombinant Proteins / metabolism
  • Solutions
  • Substrate Specificity

Substances

  • 12-(3-adamantan-1-ylureido)dodecanoic acid
  • Epoxy Compounds
  • Fatty Acids
  • Lauric Acids
  • Recombinant Proteins
  • Solutions
  • Epoxide Hydrolases
  • EPHX2 protein, human
  • Adamantane