Wayne L. Backes, PhD, earned his degree in Biochemistry from West Virginia University and studied Pharmacology as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Connecticut Health Center, where he became an Assistant Professor before joining the LSU Health Sciences Center faculty in 1984. Currently, as Professor of Pharmacology, Associate Dean of Research, and Contributing Member of the LCRC Program in Molecular Genetics, his research interests include gene-environment risk interactions among members of the P450 superfamily of enzymes and their effects on drug metabolism. Dr. Backes has been a member of the Cancer Center since 1999.
Drug Metabolism
Medical Pharmacology
Principles of Pharmacology
Reed, J.R., Kelley, R.W., and Backes, W.L. (2006) An Evaluation of Methods for the Reconstitution of Cytochromes P450 and NADPH P450 Reductase into Lipid Vesicles. Drug Metab. Dispos. 34, 660-666, (PMCID: PMC2041853).
Cormier, S.A., Lomnicki, S., Backes, W., and Dellinger, B. (2006) Origin and Health Impacts of Emissions of Toxic By-Products and Fine Particles from Combustion and Thermal Treatment of Hazardous Wastes and Materials. Environmental Health Persp. 114, 1-10 (PMCID: PMC1480527).
Kelley, R.W., Cheng, D., and Backes, W.L. (2006) Heteromeric Complex Formation Between CYP2E1 and CYP1A2: Evidence for the Involvement of Electrostatic Interactions. Biochemistry 45, 15807-15816, (PMCID: PMC1994092).
Cheng, D., Reed, J.R. Harris, D., and Backes, W.L. (2007) Inhibition of CYP2B4 by the Mechanism-based inhibitor 2-Ethynylnaphthalene: Inhibitory Potential of 2EN is Dependent on Substrate Size. Arch. Biochem. Biophys. 462, 28-37, (PMCID: PMC2041879).
Cheng, D., Harris, D., Reed, J.R. and Backes, W.L. (2007) Inhibition of CYP2B4 by the Mechanism-based inhibitor 2-Ethynylnaphthalene: Evidence for the Co-Binding of Substrate and Inhibitor within the Active Site. Arch. Biochem. Biophys. 468, 174-182, (PMCID: PMC2121586).
Huber III, W.J. and Backes, W.L. (2007) Expression and Characterization of Full-Length Human Heme Oxygenase-1: Presence of intact membrane-binding region leads to increased binding affinity for NADPH-cytochrome P450 reductase. Biochemistry 46, 12212-12219 (PMCID: PMC2788297).
Huber III, W.J. and Backes, W.L. (2008) Quantitation of Heme Oxygenase-1: Heme Titration Increases Yield of Purified Protein, Anal. Biochem. 373, 167-169, (PMCID: PMC2186295).
Reed, J.R., Brignac-Huber, L.M., Backes, W.L. (2008) Physical Incorporation of NADPH-cytochrome P450 Reductase and Cytochrome P450 into Phospholipid Vesicles using Glycocholate and Biobeads, Drug Metab. Dispos. 36, 582–588 (PMCID: PMC2789009).
Huber III, W.J., Scruggs, B., and Backes, W.L. (2009) C-Terminal Membrane Spanning Region of Human Heme Oxygenase-1 Mediates a Time Dependent Complex Formation with Cytochrome P450 Reductase, Biochemistry 41, 190-197 (PMCID: PMC2789667).
Huber III, W.J., Marohnic, C.C., Peters, M., Alam, J., Masters, B.S.S., and Backes, W.L. (2009) Measurement of Membrane-Bound Human Heme Oxygenase-1 Activity Using a Chemically Defined Assay System, Drug Metab. Dispos. 37, 857-864 (PMCID: PMC2680543).
Reed, J.R., Eyer, M., and Backes, W.L. (2010) Functional Interactions between Cytochromes P450 1A2 and 2B4 Require Both Enzymes to Reside in the Same Phospholipid Vesicle: Evidence for physical complex formation, J. Biol. Chem. 285, 8942-8952 (PMCID: PMC2838316).
Reed, J.R., Huber, W.J., and Backes, W.L. (2010) Human Heme Oxygenase-1 Efficiently Catabolizes Heme in the Absence of Biliverdin Reductase, Drug Metab. Dispos. 38, 2060-2066 (PMCID: PMC2967390).
Reed, J.R., Cawley, G.F., and Backes, W.L. (2011) Assessing an Antioxidant Role for HO-1 in the Inhibition of P450-Mediated Production of Reactive Oxygen Species in Rat Liver Microsomes, Drug Metabolism Letters, 5, 6-16.
Brignac-Huber, L., Reed, J.R., and Backes, W.L. (2011) Organization of NADPH-Cytochrome P450 Reductase and CYP1A2 in the Endoplasmic Reticulum – Microdomain localization affects monooxygenase function, Mol. Pharmacol. 79, 549-557.
Marohnic, C.C., Huber, W.J. III, Connick, J.P., Reed, J.R., McCammon, K., Panda, S.P., Martásek, P., Backes, W.L., and Masters, B.S.S. (2011) Mutations of Human Cytochrome P450 Reductase Differentially Modulate Heme Oxygenase-I Activity and Oligomerization, Arch. Biochem. Biophys. (in press).
