Histamine N-methyltransferase
Histamine N-methyltransferase (HMT, HNMT) is an enzyme that in humans is encoded by the HNMT gene.[1]
Histamine N-methyltransferase is one of two enzymes involved in the metabolism of histamine, the other being diamine oxidase. Histamine N-methyltransferase catalyzes the methylation of histamine in the presence of S-adenosylmethionine (SAM) forming N-methylhistamine. HMT is present in most body tissues but is not present in serum.[2] Histamine N-methyltransferase is encoded by a single gene which has been mapped to chromosome 2.
Function
Function
In mammals, histamine is metabolized by two major pathways: N(tau)-methylation via histamine N-methyltransferase and oxidative deamination via diamine oxidase. This gene encodes the first enzyme which is found in the cytosol and uses S-adenosyl-L-methionine as the methyl donor. In the mammalian brain, the neurotransmitter activity of histamine is controlled by N(tau)-methylation as diamine oxidase is not found in the central nervous system. A common genetic polymorphism affects the activity levels of this gene product in red blood cells.[1]
References
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 “Entrez Gene: Histamine N-methyltransferase”.
- ↑ Brown DD, Tomchick R, Axelrod J (November 1959). “The distribution and properties of a histamine-methylating enzyme” (pdf). J. Biol. Chem. 234 (11): 2948–50. PMID 13804910.
Further reading
Further reading
- Wang L, Thomae B, Eckloff B, Wieben E, Weinshilboum R (August 2002). “Human histamine N-methyltransferase pharmacogenetics: gene resequencing, promoter characterization, and functional studies of a common 5′-flanking region single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP)”. Biochem. Pharmacol. 64 (4): 699–710. doi:10.1016/s0006-2952(02)01223-6. PMID 12167489.
- García-Martín E, Martínez C, Benito-León J, Calleja P, Díaz-Sánchez M, Pisa D, Alonso-Navarro H, Ayuso-Peralta L, Torrecilla D, Agúndez JA, Jiménez-Jiménez FJ (February 2010). “Histamine-N-methyl transferase polymorphism and risk for multiple sclerosis”. Eur. J. Neurol. 17 (2): 335–8. doi:10.1111/j.1468-1331.2009.02720.x. PMID 19538200.
- Ross CJ, Katzov-Eckert H, Dubé MP, Brooks B, Rassekh SR, Barhdadi A, Feroz-Zada Y, Visscher H, Brown AM, Rieder MJ, Rogers PC, Phillips MS, Carleton BC, Hayden MR (December 2009). “Genetic variants in TPMT and COMT are associated with hearing loss in children receiving cisplatin chemotherapy”. Nat. Genet. 41 (12): 1345–9. doi:10.1038/ng.478. PMID 19898482.
- Seip RL, Volek JS, Windemuth A, Kocherla M, Fernandez ML, Kraemer WJ, Ruaño G (2008). “Physiogenomic comparison of human fat loss in response to diets restrictive of carbohydrate or fat”. Nutr Metab (Lond). 5: 4. doi:10.1186/1743-7075-5-4. PMC 2270845. PMID 18254975.
- Chen GL, Zhu B, Nie WP, Xu ZH, Tan ZR, Zhou G, Liu J, Wang W, Zhou HH (September 2004). “Single nucleotide polymorphisms and haplotypes of histamine N-methyltransferase in patients with gastric ulcer”. Inflamm. Res. 53 (9): 484–8. doi:10.1007/s00011-004-1290-0. PMID 15551002.
- Szczepankiewicz A, Bręborowicz A, Sobkowiak P, Popiel A (2010). “Polymorphisms of two histamine-metabolizing enzymes genes and childhood allergic asthma: a case control study”. Clin Mol Allergy. 8: 14. doi:10.1186/1476-7961-8-14. PMC 2990726. PMID 21040557.
- Stevenson J, Sonuga-Barke E, McCann D, Grimshaw K, Parker KM, Rose-Zerilli MJ, Holloway JW, Warner JO (September 2010). “The role of histamine degradation gene polymorphisms in moderating the effects of food additives on children’s ADHD symptoms”. Am J Psychiatry. 167 (9): 1108–15. doi:10.1176/appi.ajp.2010.09101529. PMID 20551163.
- Aksoy S, Raftogianis R, Weinshilboum R (February 1996). “Human histamine N-methyltransferase gene: structural characterization and chromosomal location”. Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. 219 (2): 548–54. doi:10.1006/bbrc.1996.0271. PMID 8605025.
- Horton JR, Sawada K, Nishibori M, Zhang X, Cheng X (September 2001). “Two polymorphic forms of human histamine methyltransferase: structural, thermal, and kinetic comparisons”. Structure. 9 (9): 837–49. doi:10.1016/S0969-2126(01)00643-8. PMC 4030376. PMID 11566133.
External links
External links
- Histamine+N-Methyltransferase at the US National Library of Medicine Medical Subject Headings (MeSH)
This article incorporates text from the United States National Library of Medicine, which is in the public domain.
Looking for the patient version?
© 2026 MyEClinic – IFTM Institut für Telematik in der Medizin GmbH