5-Hydroxyeicosanoid dehydrogenase (5-HEDH) or more formally, nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADP+)-dependent dehydrogenase, is an enzyme that metabolizes an eicosanoid product of arachidonate 5-lipoxygenase (5-LOX), 5(S)-hydroxy-6S,8Z,11Z,14Z-eicosatetraenoic acid (i.e. 5-(S)-HETE; see 5-HETE) to its 5-keto analog, 5-oxo-eicosatetraenoic acid (i.e. 5-oxo-6S,8Z,11Z,14Z-eicosatetraenoic acid or 5-oxo-ETE). It also acts in the reverse direction, metabolizing 5-oxo-ETE to 5(S)-HETE. Since 5-oxo-ETE is 30-100-fold more potent than 5(S)-HETE in stimulating various cell types, 5-HEDH is regarded as a regulator and promoter of 5(S)HETE's and thereby 5-LOX's influences on cell function. Although 5-HEDH has been evaluated in a wide range of intact cells and in crude microsome preparations, it has not yet been evaluated for its structure, for its gene, of in pure form; furthermore, most studies on it have been conducted in human tissues.
The substrate specificity of 5-HEDH has been evaluated in a variety of intact cells and in crude microsome preparations isolated from cultured human blood monocytes differentiated into macrophages. These studies indicate that the enzyme efficiently oxidizes long chain unsaturated fatty acids possessing a hydroxy residue at carbon 5 and a trans double bound at carbon 6 to their corresponding 5-oxo products. It is therefore most efficient in metabolizing 5(S)-HETE to 5-oxo-ETE and, with somewhat lesser efficiency, in metabolizing other 5(S)-hydroxyl-6-trans unsaturated fatty acids such as 5(S)-hydroxy-eicosapentaenoic acid, 5(S)-hydroxy-eicosatrienoic acid, 5(S)-hydroxy-eicosadeinoic acid, 5(S)-hydroxy-eicosamonoenoic acid, 5(S)-hydroxy-octadecadienoic acid, 5(S),15(S)-dihydroxyeicosatetraenoic acid, and the 6-trans isomer of leukotriene B4 (which is a 5(S),12(S)-dihydroxyeicosatetraeonic acid) to their corresponding oxo analogs. 5-HEDH has relatively little ability to oxidize 5(S)-hydroxyl-tetradecadienoic acid, the R stereoisomer of 5(S)-HETE (5(R)-HETE), or a racemic mixture of 8-HETE, and does not oxidize 12(S)-HETE, 15(S)-HETE, leukotriene B4, a racemate mixture of 9-HETE, a racemate mixture of 11-HETE, or a 5(S)-hydroxy-6-trans 12 carbon dienoic fatty acid. 5-HEDH is therefore hydroxy dehydrogenase that acts in a stereospecific manner to oxidize 5(S)-hydoxy residues in 6-trans unsaturated intermediate but not short-chain fatty acids.