Abstract
Malaria is a frequent parasitic infection becomes life threatening due to the disequilibrated immune responses of the host. Avid phagocytosis of malarial pigment hemozoin (HZ) and HZ-containing Plasmodium parasites incapacitates monocyte functions by bioactive lipoperoxidation products 4-hydroxynonenal (4-HNE) and hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acids (HETEs). CYP4F conjugation with 4-HNE is hypothesised to inhibit ω-hydroxylation of 15-HETE, leading to sustained monocyte dysfunction caused by 15-HETE accumulation. A combined immunochemical and mass-spectrometric approach identified 4-HNE-conjugated CYP4F11 in primary human HZ-laden and 4-HNE-treated monocytes. Six distinct 4-HNE-modified amino acid residues were revealed, of which C260 and H261 are localized in the substrate recognition site of CYP4F11. Functional consequences of enzyme modification were investigated on purified human CYP4F11. Palmitic acid, arachidonic acid, 12-HETE, and 15-HETE bound to unconjugated CYP4F11 with apparent dissociation constants of 52, 98, 38, and 73 µM, respectively, while in vitro conjugation with 4-HNE completely blocked substrate binding and enzymatic activity of CYP4F11. Gas chromatographic product profiles confirmed that unmodified CYP4F11 catalysed the ω-hydroxylation while 4-HNE-conjugated CYP4F11 did not. The 15-HETE dose dependently recapitulated the inhibition of the oxidative burst and dendritic cell differentiation by HZ. The inhibition of CYP4F11 by 4-HNE with consequent accumulation of 15-HETE is supposed to be a crucial step in immune suppression in monocytes and immune imbalance in malaria.