Differential Distribution of CYP2A6 and CYP2A13 in the Human Respiratory Tract
Respiration, 08/21/2012
Exclusive author commentary
Chiang HC et al. – The differential distribution patterns of CYP2A6 and CYP2A13 in the respiratory tract are of importance in considering the pulmonary susceptibility to carcinogens and the following lung cancer development.
T.-C. Tsou (08/21/2012) comments:
Human CYP2A6 and CYP2A13 play important roles in metabolic activation of many pulmonary carcinogens and thus their expression and distribution may determine the pulmonary susceptibility to carcinogens and the following lung cancer development. Our previous study provided in vitro evidence demonstrating the metabolic effects of CYP2A6 and CYP2A13 on a tobacco-specific nitrosamine NNK-induced gene mutation (Toxicol Appl Pharmacol. 2011 Jun 1;253(2):145-52). Because of heterogeneity in cell types of the respiratory tract, detailed immunohistochemistry analyses were necessary to precisely evaluate any cell/tissue-specific distribution of these two CYP2As enzymes. However, generation of CYP2A6 or CYP2A13 specific antibody is a great challenge due to the 93.5% of amino-acid identity between CYP2A6 and CYP2A13. The contribution of this study is to generate two specific CYP2A6/CYP2A13 antibodies that do not cross-react with each other. With these two antibodies, our immunohistochemistry analyses clearly revealed the differential distribution of CYP2A6 and CYP2A13 in human respiratory tract. The differential distribution patterns of CYP2A6 and CYP2A13 in the respiratory tract are of importance in considering the pulmonary susceptibility to carcinogens and the following lung cancer development.
