The relationship between UGT1A1 gene & various diseases and prevention strategies

Abstract

UDP-glucuronyltransferase 1A1 (UGT1A1) is a member of the Phase II metabolic enzyme family and the only enzyme that can metabolize detoxified bilirubin. Inactivation and very low activity of UGT1A1 in the liver can be fatal or lead to lifelong Gilbert’s syndrome (GS) and Crigler–Najjar syndrome (CN). To date, more than one hundred UGT1A1 polymorphisms have been discovered. Although most UGT1A1 polymorphisms are not fatal, which diseases might be associated with low activity UGT1A1 or UGT1A1 polymorphisms? This scientific topic has been studied for more than a hundred years, there are still many uncertainties. Herein, this article will summarize all the possibilities of UGT1A1 gene-related diseases, including GS and CN, neurological disease, hepatobiliary disease, metabolic difficulties, gallstone, cardiovascular disease, Crohn’s disease (CD) obesity, diabetes, myelosuppression, leukemia, tumorigenesis, etc., and provide guidance for researchers to conduct in-depth study on UGT1A1 gene-related diseases. In addition, this article not only summarizes the prevention strategies of UGT1A1 gene-related diseases, but also puts forward some insights for sharing.

Keywords:

• UGT1A1
• Gilbert’s syndrome
• Crigler–Najjar syndrome
• neurological disease
• hepatobiliary disease
• tumorigenesis

Disclosure statement

The author(s) declare no conflicts of interest.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the fund of National Sciences Foundation of China (No. 81873055, 81503265), Jiangsu Science and Technology Development Project of Traditional Chinese Medicine (No. YB2020020). National TCM innovation backbone TCM innovation backbone talent training program (19ZYCXGG-2), and Institute's independent research projects of Jiangsu Province Academy of Traditional Chinese Medicine (BM2018024-2019008).