Glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase – beyond the realm of red cell biology

Abstract

Glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) is critical to the maintenance of NADPH pool and redox homeostasis. Conventionally, G6PD deficiency has been associated with hemolytic disorders. Most biochemical variants were identified and characterized at molecular level. Recently, a number of studies have shone light on the roles of G6PD in aspects of physiology other than erythrocytic pathophysiology. G6PD deficiency alters the redox homeostasis, and affects dysfunctional cell growth and signaling, anomalous embryonic development, and altered susceptibility to infection. The present article gives a brief review of basic science and clinical findings about G6PD, and covers the latest development in the field. Moreover, how G6PD status alters the susceptibility of the affected individuals to certain degenerative diseases is also discussed.

Keywords::

• G6PD
• NADPH
• reactive oxygen species
• antioxidant

Acknowledgments

We are grateful to Ms. Hsiang-Yu Tang for her technical assistance.

Declaration of interest

Authors report no declaration of interest. The authors are responsible for content and writing of the article.

This project is supported by grants from Chang Gung University (CMRPD190443, CMRPD1A0562, CMRPD1C0751, CMRPD1A0563, CMRPD190423, CMRPD1A0521, CMRPD1A0522, CMRPD391683, CMRPD1C0441 and CMRPD1C0761), National Science Council of Taiwan (NSC99-2320-B-182-021-MY3, NSC101-2320-B-182-024-MY3 and NSC100-2320-B-182-010-MY3) and the Ministry of Education of Taiwan (EMRPD1C0271 and EMRPD1D0241).