Antibody-catalyzed water-oxidation pathway

Wentworth, Paul; Witter, Daniel P.

doi:10.1351/pac200880081849

Pure Appl. Chem., 2008, Vol. 80, No. 8, pp. 1849-1858

http://dx.doi.org/10.1351/pac200880081849

Antibody-catalyzed water-oxidation pathway

Paul Wentworth, Jr.^1,2,3 and Daniel P. Witter³

¹ Departments of Chemistry, The Scripps Research Institute, 10550 N. Torrey Pines Road, La Jolla, CA 92037, USA
² The Skaggs Institute for Chemical Biology, The Scripps Research Institute, 10550 N. Torrey Pines Road, La Jolla, CA 92037, USA
³ The Scripps-Oxford Laboratory, Department of Biochemistry, Glycobiology Institute, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3QU, UK

Abstract: The intrinsic ability of all antibodies to generate hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) from singlet dioxygen (¹O₂*) via the antibody-catalyzed water-oxidation pathway (ACWOP) has triggered a rethink of the potential role of antibodies both in immune defense, inflammation, and disease. It has been shown that photochemical activation of this pathway is highly bactericidal. More recently, cholesterol oxidation by-products that may arise from the ACWOP have been discovered in vivo and are receiving a great deal of attention as possible key players in atherosclerosis and diseases of protein misfolding, such as Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease.