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Light Driven Drug-Enzyme Reaction Catalytic Platform Developed​
View : 9698 Date : 2015-01-26 Writer : ed_news

Low Cost Dye Used, Hope for Future Development of High Value Medicinal Products to Treat Cardiovascular Disease and Gastric Ulcers

 

A KAIST research team from the Departments of Materials Science and Engineering and of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, led respectively by Professors Chan Beum Park and Ki Jun Jeong, has developed a new reaction platform to induce drug-enzyme reaction using light.

 

The research results were published in the journal Angewandte Chemie, International Edition, as the back cover on 12 January 2015.

 

Applications of this technology may enable production of high value products such as medicine for cardiovascular disease and gastric ulcers, for example Omeprazole, using an inexpensive dye.

 

Cytochrome P450 is an enzyme involved in oxidative response which has an important role in drug and hormone metabolism in organisms. It is known to be responsible for metabolism of 75% of drugs in humans and is considered a fundamental factor in new drug development. 

 

To activate cytochrome P450, the enzyme must receive an electron by reducing the enzyme. In addition, NADPH (a coenzyme) needs to be present. However, since NADPH is expensive, the use of cytochrome P450 was limited to the laboratory and has not yet been commercialized. 

 

The research team used photosensitizer eosin Y instead of NADPH to develop “Whole Cell Photo-Biocatalysis” in bacteria E. coli. By exposing inexpensive eosin Y to light, cytochrome P450 reaction was catalyzed to produce the expensive metabolic material.

 

Professor Park said, “This research enabled industrial application of cytochrome P450 enzyme, which was previous limited.” He continued, “This technology will help greatly in producing high value medical products using cytochrome P450 enzyme.”

 

The research was funded by the National Research Foundation of Korea and KAIST's High Risk High Return Project (HRHRP).

 

Figure 1: Mimetic Diagram of Electron Transfer from Light to Cytochrome P450 Enzyme via Eosin Y, EY


 

 

Figure 2: The back cover of Angewandte Chemie published on 12 January 2015, showing the research results


 

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