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Showing GPX7NPGPX is a alias.

GPX7

Glutathione peroxidase 7 · UniProt Q96SL4

Length
187 aa
Mass
21.0 kDa
Annotated
2026-06-10
25 papers in source corpus 13 papers cited in narrative 13 extracted findings
Cross-family judge vs UniProt: Affinage preferred faithfulness: 5/5 claims corpus-supported (100%)

Mechanistic narrative

Synthesis pass · prose summary of the discoveries below

GPX7 (NPGPx) is a glutathione peroxidase family member that incorporates cysteine rather than selenocysteine at its catalytic motif and possesses little classical glutathione peroxidase activity, instead acting as an H2O2 sensor and transmitter that relays redox stress to specific protein partners via transient disulfide-bond exchange (PMID:15294905, PMID:23123197). Upon oxidation it forms an intramolecular Cys57–Cys86 disulfide and then transfers oxidizing equivalents to GRP78, driving formation of GRP78's Cys41–Cys420 bond to enhance chaperone activity and limit accumulation of misfolded ER proteins (PMID:23123197); its catalytic tetrad stabilizes a sulfenylated peroxidatic cysteine, enabling it to act as an H2O2-dependent PDI/P5 oxidase that supports oxidative protein folding (PMID:32719007). Through analogous disulfide coupling GPX7 engages a diverse set of effectors to transmit redox state: it binds XRN2 to clear non-targeting siRNA and prevent apoptosis (PMID:21908404), holds CPEB2 on HIF-1α mRNA to repress its translation (PMID:26446990), inhibits OGA to elevate O-GlcNAcylation and protect motor neurons from age-dependent oxidative death (PMID:31747588), and restrains ZAP70 to dampen TCR signaling in T cells (PMID:33460768). By scavenging or transmitting H2O2 it also acts as a general ROS suppressor in adipogenic, osteogenic, β-cell, and hepatic stellate cell contexts, where loss of GPX7 promotes adipocyte differentiation via ROS-dependent PKA/C-EBPβ activation (PMID:23828861), impairs osteogenesis through ER stress and mTOR downregulation (PMID:34626080), and accelerates ER-stress-driven β-cell death and NASH fibrosis (PMID:28751022, PMID:32317079). Its transcription is itself stress-responsive, induced under non-targeting siRNA stress through a promoter G-quadruplex bound by nucleolin (PMID:23241391).

Mechanistic history

Synthesis pass · year-by-year structured walk · 12 steps
  1. 2004 Medium

    Established that GPX7 is a cysteine-containing peroxidase family member with negligible classical GPx activity yet a real cellular role in mitigating oxidative stress, reframing it away from a canonical glutathione peroxidase.

    Evidence In vitro GPx activity assay plus ectopic expression and siRNA knockdown with oxidative cell-death readouts in breast cancer cells

    PMID:15294905

    Open questions at the time
    • Did not identify the molecular mechanism of protection
    • No interacting partners or substrates defined
    • Localization not resolved
  2. 2011 Medium

    Showed GPX7 acts through covalent disulfide partnering rather than catalysis, here binding XRN2 to resolve non-targeting siRNA stress and prevent apoptosis.

    Evidence Co-IP and covalent complex detection with XRN2, siRNA knockdown with NT-siRNA accumulation and apoptosis readouts

    PMID:21908404

    Open questions at the time
    • Disulfide-bond residues on GPX7 and XRN2 not mapped
    • Single lab, not reconstituted in vitro
    • Generality beyond NT-siRNA stress unclear
  3. 2012 High

    Defined the core sensor mechanism: ROS induces an intramolecular Cys57–Cys86 disulfide that is relayed to GRP78 to enhance chaperone activity, establishing GPX7 as an ER redox-relay enzyme rather than a peroxide-detoxifying GPx.

    Evidence MS mapping of disulfide sites, cysteine mutagenesis, covalent complex detection, in vitro chaperone assays, and KO cells/mice

    PMID:23123197

    Open questions at the time
    • Upstream activation kinetics not fully resolved
    • Selectivity for GRP78 over other clients not addressed
  4. 2012 Medium

    Explained how GPX7 expression is switched on under stress, identifying a promoter G-quadruplex bound by nucleolin that displaces Sp1 to transactivate the gene during NT-siRNA stress.

    Evidence Promoter reporter assays with G4-disrupting mutations, ChIP, and nucleolin gain/loss-of-function

    PMID:23241391

    Open questions at the time
    • Signal linking NT-siRNA stress to nucleolin recruitment unknown
    • Applicability to other stress inducers untested
    • Single lab
  5. 2013 High

    Placed GPX7 in metabolic differentiation by showing its loss drives adipogenesis through ROS-dependent PKA regulatory-subunit dimerization and C/EBPβ activation.

    Evidence KO mice and cells, PKA dimerization and C/EBPβ activation assays, NAC pharmacological rescue, adipogenic differentiation assays

    PMID:23828861

    Open questions at the time
    • Whether effect is direct disulfide transmission or bulk ROS scavenging not distinguished
    • Direct GPX7–PKA interaction not shown
  6. 2015 Medium

    Demonstrated translational control: GPX7 disulfide-bonds CPEB2 to keep it on HIF-1α mRNA, so oxidative stress releases CPEB2 and de-represses HIF-1α translation.

    Evidence Co-IP of disulfide-bonded complex, cysteine mutagenesis, polysome/RNA-IP for HIF-1α mRNA, knockdown cells

    PMID:26446990

    Open questions at the time
    • Disulfide residues not exhaustively mapped
    • Single lab
    • Breadth of CPEB2-regulated transcripts affected unclear
  7. 2017 Medium

    Clarified that in β-cells GPX7 acts primarily by scavenging luminal ER H2O2 to limit FFA-induced ER stress and apoptosis, not by enhancing disulfide bond formation in secreted protein.

    Evidence Stable GPX7/GPX8 expression in INS-1E cells with ER-targeted catalase comparator, H2O2 and ER stress measurements, insulin disulfide assays

    PMID:28751022

    Open questions at the time
    • Context-dependence of scavenging vs oxidase roles not reconciled
    • No loss-of-function in primary β-cells
    • Single lab
  8. 2019 High

    Extended the disulfide-relay paradigm to neuroprotection, showing stress-activated GPX7 inhibits OGA to boost O-GlcNAcylation, with pharmacological OGA inhibition rescuing motor neuron loss in aged KO mice.

    Evidence KO mice with ALS-like phenotype, disulfide Co-IP with OGA, in vivo OGA-inhibitor rescue, O-GlcNAcylation western blots

    PMID:31747588

    Open questions at the time
    • Disulfide residues on OGA not mapped
    • Generalizability beyond motor neurons unaddressed
  9. 2020 High

    Provided the enzymatic basis for GPX7's oxidase function, showing a catalytic tetrad confers high H2O2 reactivity and a distinct resolving cysteine governs its activity as an H2O2-dependent PDI/P5 oxidase for oxidative folding.

    Evidence In vitro H2O2 reactivity and PDI oxidation assays, active-site mutagenesis, Co-IP with PDI/P5 in H2O2-treated cells

    PMID:32719007

    Open questions at the time
    • In-cell flux through PDI vs other partners not quantified
    • Single lab
  10. 2020 Medium

    Showed GPX7 is a negative regulator of hepatic stellate cell activation and fibrosis, suppressing ROS and pro-fibrotic gene expression in vitro and in a NASH mouse model.

    Evidence siRNA knockdown and overexpression in LX-2 cells, ROS and fibrosis gene readouts, in vivo CDAHFD model with hepatic knockdown

    PMID:32317079

    Open questions at the time
    • No direct partner identified in this context
    • Mechanism beyond bulk ROS suppression unresolved
    • Single lab
  11. 2021 Medium

    Distinguished GPX7's ER-stress-dependent role in lineage choice, showing its loss impairs osteogenesis via elevated ER stress and mTOR downregulation while promoting adipogenesis via ROS.

    Evidence GPX7-deficient human BMSCs and mouse MSC line, differentiation assays, ER-stress vs ROS-inhibitor epistasis, mTOR western blots

    PMID:34626080

    Open questions at the time
    • Molecular link between GPX7 loss and ER-stress/mTOR not defined
    • Direct partners in BMSCs unknown
    • Single lab
  12. 2021 High

    Established a role in adaptive immunity: TCR-induced ROS activate GPX7 to disulfide-bond ZAP70, reducing its raft recruitment and restraining T cell activation.

    Evidence Proteomic identification of GPX7–ZAP70 complex, T cell-specific KO mice, TCR signaling and lipid raft assays, EAE model

    PMID:33460768

    Open questions at the time
    • Disulfide residues on ZAP70 not mapped
    • Reversibility/resolution of the GPX7–ZAP70 bond not characterized

Open questions

Synthesis pass · forward-looking unresolved questions
  • How GPX7 selects among its many disulfide partners in a given cell type, and what determines the switch between H2O2 scavenging, PDI-oxidase folding, and targeted disulfide relay, remain unresolved.
  • No unified model of partner selection
  • Quantitative redox flux partitioning unmeasured
  • Structural basis of partner discrimination unknown

Mechanism profile

Synthesis pass · controlled-vocabulary classification · explore literature graph →
Molecular activity
GO:0098772 molecular function regulator activity 3 GO:0016491 oxidoreductase activity 2 GO:0140096 catalytic activity, acting on a protein 2 GO:0140299 molecular sensor activity 2
Localization
GO:0005783 endoplasmic reticulum 2 GO:0005829 cytosol 1
Pathway
R-HSA-392499 Metabolism of proteins 2 R-HSA-8953897 Cellular responses to stimuli 2 R-HSA-168256 Immune System 1

Evidence

Reading pass · 13 per-paper findings extracted from the source corpus
Year Finding Method Journal Conf PMIDs
2004 NPGPx (GPX7) is a cytoplasmic protein (~22 kDa) that incorporates cysteine instead of selenocysteine at the conserved catalytic motif and has little detectable glutathione peroxidase activity in vitro. Re-expression of NPGPx in breast cancer cells conferred resistance to eicosapentaenoic acid-mediated oxidative cell death, while siRNA-mediated knockdown increased sensitivity, establishing a functional role in alleviating oxidative stress from polyunsaturated fatty acid metabolism. In vitro GPx activity assay, ectopic expression rescue, siRNA knockdown with cell viability readout The Journal of biological chemistry Medium 15294905
2011 Under non-targeting siRNA (NT-siRNA) stress, NPGPx (GPX7) is selectively induced and covalently binds (via disulfide bond) to exoribonuclease XRN2, facilitating XRN2-mediated removal of accumulated NT-siRNA. NPGPx-depleted cells accumulated mature NT-siRNA and underwent apoptosis, demonstrating that NPGPx–XRN2 interaction is required to resolve NT-siRNA stress. Co-immunoprecipitation, covalent complex detection, siRNA knockdown with apoptosis and NT-siRNA accumulation readouts Nucleic acids research Medium 21908404
2012 NPGPx (GPX7) acts as an oxidative stress sensor by forming an intramolecular disulfide bond between Cys57 and Cys86 in response to ROS. The oxidized form binds GRP78 and forms covalent intermediates between Cys86 of NPGPx and Cys41/Cys420 of GRP78, subsequently promoting the Cys41–Cys420 disulfide bond in GRP78 to enhance its chaperone activity. NPGPx-deficient cells show increased ROS, accumulated misfolded proteins, and impaired GRP78 chaperone activity. Mass spectrometry identification of disulfide bond sites, cysteine mutagenesis, Co-IP/covalent complex detection, in vitro chaperone activity assay, NPGPx-knockout cells/mice Molecular cell High 23123197
2012 The proximal promoter of NPGPx (GPX7) contains a mixed G-quadruplex (G4) structure essential for NT-siRNA-induced transcriptional activation. Nucleolin (NCL) specifically binds the G4-containing sequences, replacing Sp1, to transactivate NPGPx expression under NT-siRNA stress; disrupting the G4 structure or depleting NCL abolished this induction. Promoter reporter assays with G4-disrupting mutations, ChIP, nucleolin overexpression/knockdown Nucleic acids research Medium 23241391
2013 NPGPx (GPX7) deficiency promotes preadipocyte-to-adipocyte differentiation via ROS-dependent dimerization of protein kinase A (PKA) regulatory subunits and consequent activation of C/EBPβ. Antioxidant N-acetylcysteine treatment rescued the enhanced adipogenesis, placing GPX7 upstream of PKA regulatory subunit dimerization in the ROS–C/EBPβ axis. NPGPx-knockout mice and cells, PKA regulatory subunit dimerization assay, C/EBPβ activation assay, NAC rescue experiment, adipogenic differentiation assay EMBO molecular medicine High 23828861
2015 NPGPx (GPX7) forms a disulfide bond with the translational regulator CPEB2, keeping CPEB2 associated with HIF-1α mRNA and suppressing its translation. Under high oxidative stress, this disulfide bond is disrupted, releasing CPEB2 from HIF-1α mRNA and allowing elevated HIF-1α translation. NPGPx-deficient cells show constitutively elevated HIF-1α translation under normoxia. Co-IP of disulfide-bonded NPGPx–CPEB2 complex, cysteine mutagenesis, polysome profiling/RNA-IP for HIF-1α mRNA association, NPGPx-KD cells Nucleic acids research Medium 26446990
2017 GPX7 (and GPX8) are ER-resident peroxidases whose expression in rat β-cells attenuates FFA-mediated H2O2 generation, ER stress, and apoptosis. An ER-targeted catalase produced the same protective effect, establishing that accumulation of H2O2 in the ER lumen is the critical mediator of FFA-induced ER stress. GPX7/GPX8 expression did not increase disulfide bond formation in insulin, indicating H2O2 scavenging rather than oxidative protein folding is the primary protective function in β-cells. Stable expression of GPX7/GPX8 in INS-1E cells, ER-targeted catalase as comparator, H2O2 measurement, ER stress markers, apoptosis assays, insulin content/disulfide bond assays Free radical biology & medicine Medium 28751022
2019 Stress-activated NPGPx (GPX7) inhibits O-GlcNAcase (OGA) through direct disulfide bond formation, thereby elevating global O-GlcNAcylation. In NPGPx-deficient motor neurons, OGA inhibition fails, O-GlcNAcylation cannot be boosted against age-dependent oxidative stress, and ROS accumulation leads to cell death. Pharmacological OGA inhibition rescued motor neuron loss in aged NPGPx-deficient mice, placing NPGPx upstream of OGA in this neuroprotective axis. NPGPx-KO mice (ALS-like phenotype), disulfide bond Co-IP between NPGPx and OGA, pharmacological OGA inhibitor rescue in vivo, O-GlcNAcylation western blot Cell reports High 31747588
2020 Human GPX7 has much higher reactivity with H2O2 than GPX8, owing to a catalytic tetrad at its redox-active site that stabilizes the sulfenylated peroxidatic cysteine intermediate. A resolving cysteine (not the peroxidatic cysteine) regulates GPX7's PDI oxidation activity. In H2O2-treated cells, GPX7 preferentially forms complexes with PDI and P5, functioning as an H2O2-dependent PDI oxidase for oxidative protein folding. In vitro H2O2 reactivity assays, PDI oxidation activity assays, active-site mutagenesis, Co-IP of GPX7 with PDI/P5 in H2O2-treated cells The Journal of biological chemistry High 32719007
2020 GPX7 knockdown in TGF-β/FFA-treated hepatic stellate cells (LX-2) elevated pro-fibrotic and pro-inflammatory gene expression and collagen synthesis, while GPX7 overexpression suppressed ROS and reduced these responses. In vivo, GPX7 knockdown accelerated NASH fibrosis in CDAHFD-fed mice, establishing GPX7 as a negative regulator of hepatic stellate cell activation and fibrosis via ROS suppression. siRNA knockdown and overexpression in LX-2 cells, ROS measurement, fibrosis/inflammation gene expression, in vivo CDAHFD mouse model with hepatic GPX7 knockdown BMB reports Medium 32317079
2021 NPGPx (GPX7) deficiency in BMSCs reduces osteogenic differentiation and increases adipogenic differentiation. Unlike adipogenesis (which is ROS-dependent), inhibition of osteogenesis by GPX7 deficiency is mediated through elevated ER stress (rescued by ER stress antagonist, not ROS inhibitor), and involves downregulation of mTOR signaling that can be rescued by relief of ER stress. GPX7-deficient human BMSCs and mouse MSC line, osteogenic/adipogenic differentiation assays, ER stress antagonist and ROS inhibitor rescue experiments, mTOR pathway western blot Journal of cellular and molecular medicine Medium 34626080
2021 NPGPx (GPX7) restrains ZAP70 kinase activity in T cells through direct disulfide bond formation with ZAP70 (identified by proteomic approaches). ROS generated upon TCR stimulation activate NPGPx, which reduces ZAP70 recruitment to the TCR/CD3 complex in membrane lipid rafts, thereby subduing TCR responses. T cell-specific NPGPx-knockout mice show hyperproliferation, elevated cytokines, enhanced humoral responses, and susceptibility to EAE. Proteomic identification of NPGPx–ZAP70 disulfide complex, T cell-specific KO mice, TCR signaling assays, lipid raft fractionation, EAE model Free radical biology & medicine High 33460768
2016 GPX7 (NPGPx) functions as a redox stress sensor/transmitter that lacks GPx activity but shuttles disulfide bonds to interacting proteins (GRP78, PDI, CPEB2, XRN2) in response to oxidative and other cellular stresses, thereby modulating unfolded protein response, oxidative stress signaling, and non-targeting siRNA stress response. Review/synthesis of prior experimental findings from the same group (no new primary experiments described) American journal of translational research Low 27186289

Source papers

Stage 0 corpus · 25 papers · ranked by NIH iCite citations
Year Title Journal Citations PMID
2012 Loss of the oxidative stress sensor NPGPx compromises GRP78 chaperone activity and induces systemic disease. Molecular cell 123 23123197
2015 GPX4 and GPX7 over-expression in human hepatocellular carcinoma tissues. European journal of histochemistry : EJH 93 26708178
2004 Identification of a novel putative non-selenocysteine containing phospholipid hydroperoxide glutathione peroxidase (NPGPx) essential for alleviating oxidative stress generated from polyunsaturated fatty acids in breast cancer cells. The Journal of biological chemistry 92 15294905
2016 NPGPx (GPx7): a novel oxidative stress sensor/transmitter with multiple roles in redox homeostasis. American journal of translational research 76 27186289
2013 Deficiency of NPGPx, an oxidative stress sensor, leads to obesity in mice and human. EMBO molecular medicine 68 23828861
2017 ER-resident antioxidative GPx7 and GPx8 enzyme isoforms protect insulin-secreting INS-1E β-cells against lipotoxicity by improving the ER antioxidative capacity. Free radical biology & medicine 53 28751022
2020 Characterization of the endoplasmic reticulum-resident peroxidases GPx7 and GPx8 shows the higher oxidative activity of GPx7 and its linkage to oxidative protein folding. The Journal of biological chemistry 33 32719007
2021 GPX7 Facilitates BMSCs Osteoblastogenesis via ER Stress and mTOR Pathway. Journal of cellular and molecular medicine 30 34626080
2022 GPX7 Is Targeted by miR-29b and GPX7 Knockdown Enhances Ferroptosis Induced by Erastin in Glioma. Frontiers in oncology 26 35127512
2019 NPGPx-Mediated Adaptation to Oxidative Stress Protects Motor Neurons from Degeneration in Aging by Directly Modulating O-GlcNAcase. Cell reports 25 31747588
2012 A cis-element with mixed G-quadruplex structure of NPGPx promoter is essential for nucleolin-mediated transactivation on non-targeting siRNA stress. Nucleic acids research 23 23241391
2011 Non-targeting siRNA induces NPGPx expression to cooperate with exoribonuclease XRN2 for releasing the stress. Nucleic acids research 21 21908404
2018 Brazilin and Caesalpinia sappan L. extract protect epidermal keratinocytes from oxidative stress by inducing the expression of GPX7. Chinese journal of natural medicines 20 29576056
2020 GPx7 ameliorates non-alcoholic steatohepatitis by regulating oxidative stress. BMB reports 18 32317079
2015 NPGPx modulates CPEB2-controlled HIF-1α RNA translation in response to oxidative stress. Nucleic acids research 18 26446990
2020 Improved production of Humira antibody in the genetically engineered Escherichia coli SHuffle, by co-expression of human PDI-GPx7 fusions. Applied microbiology and biotechnology 10 32997203
2024 GPX7 reduces chondrocyte inflammation and extracellular matrix degradation triggered by IL‑1β, via a mechanism mediated by ferroptosis. Molecular medicine reports 8 38757339
2025 Metformin's mechanism in reducing oxidative stress and promoting bone regeneration in T2DM rat BMMSCs: A focus on NRF2-GPX7 signaling pathway. Journal of dentistry 7 40306480
2019 GPX7 promotes the growth of human papillary thyroid carcinoma via enhancement of cell proliferation and inhibition of cell apoptosis. Translational cancer research 7 35117014
2025 Multi-Omics and Experimental Validation Identify GPX7 and Glutathione-Associated Oxidative Stress as Potential Biomarkers in Ischemic Stroke. Antioxidants (Basel, Switzerland) 5 40563300
2025 Co-Exposure to Different Zinc Concentrations and High-Fat Diet Modules Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress and Lipotoxicity through the MTF-1/GPx7 Axis in Yellow Catfish (Pelteobagrus fulvidraco). Journal of agricultural and food chemistry 3 40238493
2021 Redox sensor NPGPx restrains ZAP70 activity and modulates T cell homeostasis. Free radical biology & medicine 2 33460768
2024 Papain expression in the Escherichia coli cytoplasm by T7-promoter engineering and co-expression with human protein disulfide isomerase (PDI) and thiol peroxidase (GPx7) genes. Applied and environmental microbiology 1 39589110
2024 Computational Mutagenesis of GPx7 and GPx8: Structural and Stability Insights into Rare Genetic and Somatic Missense Mutations and Their Implications for Cancer Development. Cancers 1 39796732
2026 GPX7 marks fibroblast-associated stromal-innate immune crosstalk in ulcerative colitis. Frontiers in immunology 0 42253985

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