Unusual Biotransformation Reactions of Drugs and Drug Candidates

Ninety-eight semesters of cytochrome P450 enzymes and related topics-What have I taught and learned?

This Reflection article begins with my family background and traces my career through elementary and high school, followed by time at the University of Illinois, Vanderbilt University, the University of Michigan, and then for 98 semesters as a Vanderbilt University faculty member. My research career has dealt with aspects of cytochrome P450 enzymes, and the basic biochemistry has had applications in fields as diverse as drug metabolism, toxicology, medicinal chemistry, pharmacogenetics, biological engineering, and bioremediation. I am grateful for the opportunity to work with the Journal of Biological Chemistry not only as an author but also for 34 years as an Editorial Board Member, Associate Editor, Deputy Editor, and interim Editor-in-Chief. Thanks are extended to my family and my mentors, particularly Profs. Harry Broquist and Minor J. Coon, and the more than 170 people who have trained with me. I have never lost the enthusiasm for research that I learned in the summer of 1968 with Harry Broquist, and I have tried to instill this in the many trainees I have worked with. A sentence I use on closing slides is "It's not just a laboratory-it's a fraternity."

Meeting report of the 4th European biotransformation workshop

1. Challenges, strategies and new technologies in the field of biotransformation were presented and discussed at the fourth European Biotransformation Workshop which was held in collaboration with the joint ISSX/DMDG meeting on June 15, 2023 at the University of Hertfordshire in Hatfield, UK.2. In this meeting report we summarise the presentations and discussions from this workshop.3. The topics covered are listed below:Unusual biotransformation reactionsBiotransformation Workflows in Discovery utilising various softwares for structure elucidationBiotransformation software for the identification of peptide metabolitesAccelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS) for endogenous and xenobiotic metabolite profilingMetabolite profiling using quantitative Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and liquid chromatography coupled to inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (LC-ICP-MS).

The Importance of Tracking "Missing" Metabolites: How and Why?

Technologies currently employed to find and identify drug metabolites in complex biological matrices generally yield results that offer a comprehensive picture of the drug metabolite profile. However, drug metabolites can be missed or are captured only late in the drug development process. This could be due to a variety of factors, such as metabolism that results in partial loss of the molecule, covalent bonding to macromolecules, the drug being metabolized in specific human tissues, or poor ionization in a mass spectrometer. These scenarios often draw a great deal of attention from chemistry, safety assessment, and pharmacology. This review will summarize scenarios of missing metabolites, why they are missing, and associated uncovering strategies from deeper investigations. Uncovering previously missed metabolites can have ramifications in drug development with toxicological and pharmacological consequences, and knowledge of these can help in the design of new drugs.