Glutathione can occur in reduced (GSH), oxidized (GSSG), or in mixed disulfide forms and is ubiquitous in multiple biological systems serving as the major thiol-disulfide redox buffer of the cell. GSSG is the oxidized form of GSH . It can be reduced back to GSH through the NADPH-dependent enzyme glutathione reductase. GSSG functions as a hydrogen acceptor in the enzymatic determination of NADP+ and NADPH and can be a proximal donor in S-glutathionylation post translational modifications. The ratio of reduced glutathione to oxidized glutathione within cells is often used as an indicator of oxidative stress, with higher concentrations of GSSG predicting increased oxidative stress.
QD-394 is an inducer of reactive oxygen species (ROS) production.1It induces lipid peroxidation, increases in intracellular accumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS), and decreases in the reduced glutathione (GSH) to oxidized GSH (GSSG) ratio in MIA PaCa-2 pancreatic cancer cells when used at concentrations ranging from 0.5 to 10 μM. QD-394 is cytotoxic to MIA PaCa-2, PANC-1, and BxPC-3 cancer cells (IC50s = 0.64, 0.34, and 0.9 μM, respectively). QD-394 acts synergistically with napabucasin to reduce colony formation in MIA PaCa-2 cells. 1.Hu, S., Sechi, M., Singh, P.K., et al.A novel redox modulator induces a GPX4-mediated cell death that is dependent on iron and reactive oxygen speciesJ. Med. Chem.63(17)9838-9855(2020)