Dual control mechanism for heme oxygenase: tin(IV)-protoporphyrin potently inhibits enzyme activity while markedly increasing content of enzyme protein in liver.

Tin(IV)-protoporphyrin (Sn-protoporphyrin) potently inhibits heme degradation to bile pigments in vitro and in vivo, a property that confers upon this synthetic compound the ability to suppress a variety of experimentally induced and naturally occurring forms of jaundice in animals and humans. Utilizing rat liver heme oxygenase purified to homogeneity together with appropriate immunoquantitation techniques, we have demonstrated that Sn-protoporphyrin possesses the additional property of potently inducing the synthesis of heme oxygenase protein in liver cells while, concurrently, completely inhibiting the activity of the newly formed enzyme. Substitution of tin for the central iron atom of heme thus leads to the formation of a synthetic heme analogue that regulates heme oxygenase by a dual mechanism, which involves competitive inhibition of the enzyme for the natural substrate heme and simultaneous enhancement of new enzyme synthesis. Cobaltic(III)-protoporphyrin (Co-protoporphyrin) also inhibits heme oxygenase activity in vitro, but unlike Sn-protoporphyrin it greatly enhances the activity of the enzyme in the whole animal. Co-protoporphyrin also acts as an in vivo inhibitor of heme oxygenase; however, its inducing effect on heme oxygenase synthesis is so pronounced as to prevail in vivo over its inhibitory effect on the enzyme. These studies show that certain synthetic heme analogues possess the ability to simultaneously inhibit as well as induce the enzyme heme oxygenase in liver. The net balance between these two actions, as reflected in the rate of heme oxidation activity in the whole animal, appears to be influenced by the nature of the central metal atom of the synthetic metalloporphyrin.