to 20-Hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acid (20-HETE). 20-HETE has a wide range of activities that also include growth stimulation in breast and other types of cancers (see 12-hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acid). Evolution The CYP3A4 gene exhibits a much more complicated upstream regulatory region in comparison with its paralogs. This increased complexity renders the CYP3A4 gene more sensitive to endogenous and exogenous PXR and CAR ligands, instead of relying on gene variants for wider specificity. Chimpanzee and human CYP3A4 are highly conserved in metabolism of many ligands, although four amino acids positively selected in humans led to a 5-fold benzylation of 7-BFC in the presence of the hepatotoxic secondary bile acid lithocholic acid. This change in consequence contributes to an increased human defense against cholestasis. Tissue distribution Fetuses tend to not express CYP3A4 in their liver tissue, but rather CYP3A7 (), which acts on a similar range of substrates. CYP3A4 is absent in fetal liver but increases to approximately 40% of adult levels in the fourth month of life and 72% at 12 months. Although CYP3A4 is predominantly found in the liver, it is also present in other organs and tissues of the body, where it may play an important role in metabolism. CYP3A4 in the intestine plays an important role in the metabolism of certain drugs. Often this allows prodrugs to be activated and absorbed – as in the case of the histamine H1-receptor antagonist terfenadine. Recently CYP3A4 has also been identified in the brain, however its role in the central nervous system is still unknown. Mechanisms Cytochrome P450 enzymes perform an assortment of modifications on a variety of ligands, utilizing its large active site and its ability to bind more than one substrate at a time to perform complicated chemical alterations in the metabolism of endogenous and exogenous compounds. These include hydroxylation, epoxidation of olefins, aromatic oxidation, heteroatom oxidations, N- and O- dealkylation reactions, aldehyde oxidations, dehydrogenation reactions, and aromatase activity. Hydroxylation of an sp3 C-H bond is one of the ways in which CYP3A4 (and cytochrome P450 oxygenases) affects its ligand. In fact, hydroxylation is sometimes followed by dehydrogenation, leading to more complex metabolites. An example of a molecule that undergoes more than one reaction due to CYP3A4 includes tamoxifen, which is hydroxylated to 4-hydroxy-tamoxifen and then dehydrated to 4-hydroxy-tamoxifen quinone methide. Two mechanisms have been proposed as the primary pathway of hydroxylation in P450 enzymes. The first pathway suggested is a cage-controlled