Carboxylesterases (CES) are a well recognized, yet incompletely characterized family of proteins that catalyze neutral lipid hydrolysis. Some CES have well-defined roles in xenobiotic clearance, pharmacologic prodrug activation, and narcotic detoxification. In addition, emerging evidence suggests other CES may have roles in lipid metabolism. Humans have six CES genes, whereas mice have 20 Ces g...

Nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) is a transcription factor that induces a battery of cytoprotective genes in response to oxidative/electrophilic stress. Kelch-like ECH associating protein 1 (Keap1) sequesters Nrf2 in the cytosol. The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of Nrf2 in regulating the mRNA of genes encoding drug metabolizing enzymes and xenobiotic trans...

Mounting evidence demonstrates that CYP2B6 plays a much larger role in human drug metabolism than was previously believed. The discovery of multiple important substrates of CYP2B6 as well as polymorphic differences has sparked increasing interest in the genetic and xenobiotic factors contributing to the expression and function of the enzyme. The expression of CYP2B6 is regulated primarily by th...

Induction of drug metabolism was described more than 40 years ago. Progress in understanding the molecular mechanism of induction of drug-metabolizing enzymes was made recently when the important roles of the pregnane X receptor (PXR) and the constitutive androstane receptor (CAR), two members of the nuclear receptor superfamily of transcription factors, were discovered to act as sensors for li...

Endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDC) are commonly considered to be compounds that mimic or block the transcriptional activation elicited by naturally circulating steroid hormones by binding to steroid hormone receptors. For example, the Food Quality Protection Act of 1996 defines EDC as those, that "may have an effect in humans that is similar to an effect produced by a naturally occurring estr...

Tetranychus cinnabarinus (Acari: Tetranychidae) is a worldwide polyphagous agricultural pest that has the title of resistance champion among arthropods. We reported previously the identification of the acaricidal compound β-sitosterol from Mentha piperita and Inula japonica. However, the acaricidal mechanism of β-sitosterol is unclear. Due to the limited genetic research carried out, we de novo...