Examination of glutathione S-transferase isoenzyme profiles in human liver using high-performance affinity chromatography.

A method for the examination of the glutathione S-transferase isoenzyme profiles in human liver using a new HPLC affinity support is described. Liver cytosol was injected directly onto an HPLC column (5 x 0.46 cm) containing a support with a covalently bound affinity ligand (S-octylglutathione) specific for the isoenzymes. Contaminating cytosolic proteins were removed in a washing step. The isoenzymes were eluted with a linear gradient of a different affinity ligand in the mobile phase. Coinciding with the affinity ligand gradient, a salt gradient (0-200 mM sodium chloride) was applied. In this manner the isoenzymes were fractionated into the enzymatically active homodimers and heterodimers. The classes of the affinity fractionated isoenzymes were determined by SDS-PAGE and ELISA while the subunit content was determined by reversed-phase chromatography. For one liver three Alpha class isoenzyme subunits, forming three heterodimers and two homodimers, were detected. Five livers were examined, and the homodimer A1-1 was found to be the predominant glutathione S-transferase isoenzyme. Minor amounts of Pi and Mu class isoenzymes were also detected. This non-denaturing high-performance affinity chromatography method reduced analysis time by a factor of ten when compared to other affinity analysis methods for the glutathione S-transferases.