Roberta S. King, Ph.D.

Associate Professor of  Toxicology and Medicinal Chemistry
Department of Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences
rking@uri.edu

Publications | Honors & Awards | Conference Presenations | Teaching Projects

Click here for information about Dr. King's lab

Research Interests

Biotransformation and Chemical Toxicology

• Sulfotransferase biochemistry and physiological effects of inhibition.
• Mechanisms causing inter-individual variation in metabolism.
• Biotransformation of heterocyclic amine carcinogens in animal models and human tissues.

Education

Ph.D., Medicinal and Natural Products Chemistry, University of Iowa, 1995

B.S., Chemistry, University of Kansas, 1989

Associate Professor, College of Pharmacy, University of Rhode Island, USA; 2007-current

Assistant Professor, College of Pharmacy, University of Rhode Island, USA; 1999-2007

Postdoctoral Fellow: Division of Molecular Epidemiology, National Center for Toxicological Research, Jefferson, Arkansas; 1995-1999

NIH Predoctoral Trainee (GM07069), Teaching and Research Assistant: Division of Medicinal and Natural Products Chemistry, College of Pharmacy, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa; 1989-1995

Research Assistant and Summer Undergraduate Research Fellow: Department of Medicinal Chemistry, School of Pharmacy, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS.; 1989

Yalcin EB, Struzik SM, *King RS (2008) Allosteric modulation of SULT2A1 by celecoxib and nimesulide: Computational analyses. Drug Metabolism Letters, 2(3):198-204.
(http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/ben/dml/2008/00000002/00000003/art00010)

Yuan Z, Jha G, McGregor M, and *King RS (2007) Metabolites of the carcinogen 2-amino-alpha-carboline formed in male Sprague-Dawley rats in vivo, and in rat hepatocyte and human HepG2 cell incubates. Chemical Research in Toxicology, 20:497-503. PMID: 17291013. (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez/17291013)

*King RS, Ghosh AA, Wu J (2006) Inhibition of human phenol and estrogen sulfotransferase by certain non-steroidal anti-inflammatory agents. Current Drug Metabolism, 7(7):745-753. PMID: 17073578. (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez/17073578)

Huber WW, Teitel CH, Coles BF, King RS, Wiese FW, Kaderlik KR, Casciano DA, Shaddock JG, Mulder GJ, Ilett KF, Kadlubar FF. (2004) Potential chemoprotective effects of the coffee components kahweol and cafestol palmitates via modification of hepatic N-acetyltransferase and glutathione S-transferase activities. Environmental and Molecular Mutagenesis, 44:265-276.

Banoglu E and King RS  (2002) Sulfation of indoxyl by human and rat aryl (phenol) sulfotransferases to form indoxyl sulfate. European Journal of Drug Metabolism and Pharmacokinetics, 27(2): 135-140.

Banoglu E, Jha GG and King RS (2001) Hepatic microsomal metabolism of indole to indoxyl, a precursor of indoxyl sulfate. European Journal of Drug Metabolism and Pharmacokinetics, 26(4): 235-240.

King RS, Sharma V, Pedersen LC, Kakuta Y, Negishi M and Duffel MW (2000) Structure-function modeling of the interactions of N-alkyl-N-hydroxyanilines with rat hepatic aryl sulfotransferase IV. Chemical Research in Toxicology, 13(12):1251-1258.

King RS, Teitel CH and Kadlubar FF (2000) In vitro bioactivation of N-hydroxy-2-amino-a-carboline. Carcinogenesis, 21(7):1347-1354.

King RS, Kadlubar FF and Turesky RJ (2000) In vivo metabolism of heterocyclic amines, in Food Borne Carcinogens: Heterocyclic Amines (Sugimura T and Nagao M eds) pp. 90-111, John Wiley & Sons, London.

King RS, Teitel CH, Shaddock JG, Casciano DA and Kadlubar FF (1999) Detoxication of carcinogenic aromatic and heterocyclic amines by enzymatic reduction of the N-hydroxy derivative. Cancer Letters, 143:167-171.

Lewis AJ, Walle UK, King RS, Kadlubar FF, Falany CN and Walle T (1998) Bioactivation of the cooked-food mutagen N-hydroxy-2-amino-1-methyl-6-phenylimidazo[4,5-b]pyridine (N-OH-PhIP) by estrogen sulfotransferase in cultured human mammary epithelial cells. Carcinogenesis 19(11):2049-2053.

Snyderwine EG, Sadrieh N, King RS and Schut HAJ (1998) Formation of DNA adducts of the food-derived mutagen 2-amino(a)carboline and bioassay of mammary gland carcinogenicity in Sprague-Dawley rats. Food and Chemical Toxicology 36(12):1033-1040.

King RS and Duffel MW (1997) Oxidation-dependent inactivation of aryl sulfotransferase IV by primary N-hydroxy arylamines during in vitro assays. Carcinogenesis 18(4):843-849.|

Raza H, King RS, Squires RB, Guengerich FP, Miller DW, Freeman JP, Lang NP and Kadlubar FF (1996) Metabolism of 2-amino-a-carboline: A food-borne heterocyclic amine mutagen and carcinogen by human and rodent liver microsomes and by human cytochrome P4501A2. Drug Metab. Dispos. 24(4):395-400.

Duffel MW, Modi RB and King RS (1992) Interactions of a primary N-hydroxy arylamine with rat hepatic aryl sulfotransferase IV. Drug Metab. Dispos. 20:339-341.

Invited Speaker at International Meetings

19th European Workshop on Drug Metabolism. Bi-annual conference sponsored by the European Society of Biochemical Pharmacology. Roberta S. King, Bioactivation and Detoxification of the Dietary Carcinogen 2-Amino-a-carboline: Similarities and Differences from Other Heterocyclic Aromatic Amines, October 5, 2004, Antalya, Turkey.

International Meeting on Medicinal and Pharmaceutical Chemistry (IMMPC-1), European Federation for Medicinal Chemistry. Roberta S. King, Inhibition of human sulfotransferases by NSAIDs. September 25-28, 2002, Gazi University, Ankara, Turkey.

The 8th International Conference on Carcinogenic/Mutagenic N-Substituted Aryl Compounds, Roberta S. King,  In vivo metabolism of 2-amino-a-carboline (AaC), November 12-14, 2001, Washington, DC. Award for Outstanding Contribution to Original Research.

Published Abstracts (since 1999) (* denotes presenting author)

*King RS and Yuan Z (2004) Novel metabolites of 2-amino-a-carboline (AaC) formed in rats in vivo, rat hepatocytes, and HepG2 cells. Chemical Research In Toxicology 17(12):1776. (The 228th American Chemical Society National Meeting, Philadelphia, PA, August 22-26, 2004).
 

*Chichester CO, MacDonnell CP, King RS and Needham TE (2003) Utilization of Pharmacy Students for Evaluation of On-Line Health Information. AACP: 104:NIL94. (American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy Meeting, July 2003, Minneapolis, MN.)
 

*King RS, Jha G, Churchwell MI, Doerge DR (2002) Metabolism of the heterocyclic amine 2-amino-alpha-carboline. Drug Metabolism Reviews 34(S1):190. (The 11th North American International Society for the Study of Xenobiotics (ISSX) Meeting, October 27-31, 2002, Orlando, FL.)
 

*King RS and Ghosh A (2001) Inhibition of human sulfotransferase SULT1A1 by certain NSAIDS. Drug Metabolism Reviews 33(S1):260. (The 6th International ISSX Meeting, October 7-11, 2001, Munich, Germany.)
 

*Ghosh AA and King RS (2000) Molecular specificity and mechanism of the inhibition of SULT1A1, NAT1, and NAT2 by certain non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. Drug Metabolism Reviews 32(S2):192. (The 10th North American ISSX Meeting, October 24-28, 2000, Indianapolis, IN).

Additional presentations at International Meetings (since 1999)

Zhixin Yuan, Gautam Jha, and *Roberta S. King, Novel Metabolites of 2-Amino-a-carboline Formed In Vivo in Rats, Rat Hepatocytes, and HepG2 Cells. The 19th European Workshop on Drug Metabolism, Antalya, Turkey, October 3-6, 2004.

*King RS, Jha G, Churchwell MI, Doerge DR (2002) Metabolism of the heterocyclic amine carcinogen 2-amino-alpha-carboline. New England Drug Metabolism Discussion Group Summer Symposium, June 12, 2002, Shrewsbury, MA.

*Jha G and King RS (2001), In vivo metabolism of 2-amino-a-carboline (AaC). The 8th International Conference on Carcinogenic/Mutagenic N-Substituted Aryl Compounds, Washington, DC, November 12-14, 2001. Best abstract award.

*King RS and Ghosh A (2001) Inhibition of human sulfotransferase SULT1A1 by certain NSAIDs. Poster presented at The 31st Gordon Research Conference on Drug Metabolism, Holderness School, Plymouth NH, July 8-13, 2001.

*King RS, Sharma V, and Duffel MW (2000) Structure-function modeling of the interactions of N‑alkyl-N-hydroxyanilines with rat hepatic aryl sulfotransferase IV. Poster presented at The 30th Gordon Research Conference on Drug Metabolism, Holderness School, Plymouth NH, July 9-14, 2000.

Student Presentations at Regional or Local Meetings

Gautam Jha and Roberta S. King (2001) In vivo metabolism of 2-amino-alpha-carboline. The 30th Annual New England Pharmacologists (NEP) Meeting, January 26-27, 2001, Newport, RI.

Anasuya Ghosh and Roberta S. King (2001) Inhibition of SULT1A1, NAT1, and NAT2 by certain non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. The 30th Annual New England Pharmacologists (NEP) Meeting, January 26-27, 2001, Newport, RI.

Gautam Jha and Roberta S. King (2001) In vivo metabolism of 2-amino-alpha-carboline. New England Regional Medicinal Chemistry and Pharmacognosy (NERMCAP) Meeting, June 15-16, 2001, Boston MA.

Zhixin Yuan and Roberta S. King (2003) New England Regional Medicinal Chemistry and Pharmacognosy (NERMCAP) Meeting, 2003, Kingston, RI.

Danielle Savastano and Roberta S. King (2003) Preparation and assay of SULT1A1 from transfected e. coli XL-Blue cultures. RI-BRIN Summer Undergraduate Program Research Day, University of Rhode Island, August, 2003.

Zubia Alam, JinFang Wu, and Roberta S. King (2004) Methods to study in vitro and intracellular estradiol metabolism. RI-BRIN Summer Undergraduate Program Research Day, University of Rhode Island, August, 2004.

Mike Cipriano and Roberta S. King (2005) Effect of estrogen sulfotransferase inhibitors on proliferation of MCF-7 human breast cancer cells. RI-INBRE Summer Undergraduate Program Research Day, University of Rhode Island, August 17, 2005.

Viviana Castano and Roberta S. King (2005) Effect of estrogen sulfotransferase inhibitors on estradiol concentration in MCF-7 human breast tumor cells. RI-INBRE Summer Undergraduate Program Research Day, University of Rhode Island, August 17, 2005.

Animated movie showing warfarin binding to cytochrome P450 2C9

This movie shows the spatial interactions between enzyme and substrate. These spatial interactions define whether a given drug is metabolized by a given enzyme and where on the molecule metabolism is likely to occur. The movie allows the viewer to get inside the scene and follow the drug warfarin as it moves into the active site pocket of the enzyme ready for catalysis.

Animated movie showing how diuretics work in the kidney

The narrated movie takes the viewer from the human silhouette down subsequent levels of detail finally ending on the transporter proteins which are the direct targets of most diuretic drugs. The movie is intended to show the flow processes within the kidney including such aspects as filtration, reabsorption, and excretion in the nephron. It also shows the molecular sequence of ion transport, how the diuretics inhibit the reabsorption of sodium, and the subsequent effects on other ions.