Cysteine trisulfide oxidizes protein thiols and induces electrophilic stress in human cells

Redox Biology

Sebastian Guttzeit¹  Thomas R. Eykyn²  Christopher H. Switzer³  Philip Eaton³ 

[1] Corresponding author. William Harvey Research Institute, Barts and the London School of Medicine &Dentistry, Queen Mary University of London, Charterhouse Square, London, EC1M 6BQ, UK.;William Harvey Research Institute, Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK;

关键词: Hydrogen sulfide;    Persulfide;    Trisulfide;    Polysulfide;    Electrophilic stress;   

DOI  :  

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

The cellular effects of hydrogen sulfide (H2S) signaling may be partially mediated by the formation of alkyl persulfides from thiols, such as glutathione and protein cysteine residues. Persulfides are potent nucleophiles and reductants and therefore potentially an important endogenous antioxidant or protein post-translational modification. To directly study the cellular effects of persulfides, cysteine trisulfide (Cys-S3) has been proposed as an in situ persulfide donor, as it reacts with cellular thiols to generate cysteine persulfide (Cys-S-S−). Numerous pathways sense and respond to electrophilic cellular stressors to inhibit cellular proliferation and induce apoptosis, however the effect of Cys-S3 on the cellular stress response has not been addressed. Here we show that Cys-S3 inhibited cellular metabolism and proliferation and rapidly induced cellular- and ER-stress mechanisms, which were coupled to widespread protein-thiol oxidation. Cys-S3 reacted with Na2S to generate cysteine persulfide, which protected human cell lines from ER-stress. However this method of producing cysteine persulfide contains excess sulfide, which interferes with the direct analysis of persulfide donation. We conclude that cysteine trisulfide is a thiol oxidant that induces cellular stress and decreased proliferation.

【 授权许可】

Unknown