Human colonocyte detoxification

Detoxification or biotransformation of drugs and xenobiotics are usually linked with liver metabolism, yet colonocytes of the gastrointestinal tract have an equal capacity to mediate these processes. 1 2 This brief overview specifically discusses the ability of human colonocytes, but not other tissues, to detoxify chemical agents and relates pertinent findings to ulcerative colitis and some aspects of colon cancer. Failure to detoxify, leading to epithelial cell damage, or an exaggerated capacity to biotransform, leading to carcinogen formation in colonocytes, have been the main implications in disease processes.