In Vitro Effects of Some Chemotherapeutic Drugs on Rat Erythrocytes Glutathione S-transferase (GST) Enzyme

After heart disease, cancer is the leading cause of death worldwide. Currently, breast, lung, bowel, and prostate cancer are the most common cancers in the worldwide. By stopping cancer cells from dividing, spreading, growing, making more cells, and then destroying them, chemotherapy drugs are used to treat diseases caused by cancer. The glutathione S-transferase enzyme is responsible for the detoxification of xenobiotic molecules produced by the body during cancer treatment. In this study, glutathione S-transferase enzyme (GST, EC: 2.5.1.18) was extracted from the erythrocytes of rats by affinity column chromatography in one step. The gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) was used to verify the GST enzyme's purity, A single protein band was obtained. The GST enzyme was purified with 22.5 EU/mg specific activity, 237.14 purification-fold, and 48.98% purification yield. The subsequently investigation study into the in vitro effects of 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) and cyclophosphamide (CP) chemotherapy drugs on purified GST enzyme activity revealed that both 5-fluorouracil and cyclophosphamide increased GST activity at a concentration range of (0.385 to 15.4 mM, and 19.15 to 191.5 mM) respectively.