Removal of estrogenic activities of 17(beta)-estradiol and ethinylestradiol by ligninolytic enzymes from white rot fungi

We investigated whether manganese peroxidase (MnP) and the laccase-mediator system with 1-hydroxybenzotriazole (HBT) as mediator can remove the estrogenic activities of the steroidal hormones 17(beta)-estradiol (E2) and ethinylestradiol (EE2). Using the yeast two-hybrid assay system, we confirmed that the estrogenic activities of E2 and EE2 are much higher than those of bisphenol A and nonylphenol. Greater than 80% of the estrogenic activities of E2 and EE2 were removed following 1-h treatment with MnP or the laccase-HBT system; extending the treatment time to 8 h removed the remaining estrogenic activity of both steroidal hormones. HPLC analysis demonstrated that E2 and EE2 had disappeared almost completely in the reaction mixture after a 1-h treatment. These results strongly suggest that these ligninolytic enzymes are effective in removing the estrogenic activities of E2 and EE2.