Glutathione Peroxidase

Glutathione Peroxidase (GPx) is the general name of an enzyme family with peroxidase activity whose main biological role is to protect the organism from oxidative damage. Glutathione peroxidase functions to reduce lipid hydroperoxides to their corresponding alcohols and to reduce free hydrogen peroxide to water.

Glutathione peroxidase plays a role in the development of celiac disease. Several isozymes glutathione peroxidase are encoded by different genes, which vary in cellular location and substrate specificity. Glutathione peroxidase 1 (GPx1) is the most abundant version, existing in the cytoplasm of nearly all mammalian tissues, whose preferred substrate is hydrogen peroxide. Glutathione peroxidase 4 (GPx4) has a high preference for lipid hydroperoxides; it is expressed in almost all the mammalian cells, though at much lower levels. Glutathione peroxidase 2 is an intestinal and extracellular enzyme, while glutathione peroxidase 3 is extracellular, especially abundant in plasma. So far, eight different isoforms of glutathione peroxidase (GPx1-8) have been identified in humans.