UC Davis

The soluble epoxide hydrolase (sEH) is a bifunctional enzyme implicated in the regulation of inflammation. The N-terminal domain harbors a phosphatase activity (N-phos) with an affinity to lipid phosphomonoesters, and the C-terminal domain has an activity to hydrolyze anti-inflammatory lipid epoxides (C-EH). Although many potent inhibitors of C-EH have been discovered, little is known about inhibitors of N-phos. Here, we identify N-substituted amino acids as selective inhibitors of N-phos. Many of the N-substituted amino acids inhibited differently mouse and human N-phos; phenylalanine derivatives are relatively selective for mouse N-phos, whereas tyrosine derivatives are more selective for human N-phos. The best inhibitors, Fmoc-l-Phe(4-CN) (67) and Boc-l-Tyr(Bzl) (23), inhibited mouse and human N-phos competitively with K_I in the low micromolar range. These compounds inhibit the N-phos activity 37- (67) and 137-folds (23) more potently than the C-EH. The differences in inhibitor structure activity suggest different active site structure between species, and thus, probably a divergent substrate preference between mouse and human N-phos.