Drug metabolism letters最新文献

Background: Many CNS drugs have low bioavailability due to their poor water solubility of extensive first-pass metabolism and hence have less effectiveness.

Objective: The present study aims to enhance the solubility and oral bioavailability of poorly watersoluble antipsychotic drug Amisulpride (AMS) through complexation with 2-hydroxypropyl β- cyclodextrin (HPβCD). It has slow and erratic absorption after oral administration.

Methods: This report describes the study of the phase solubility diagram, preparation of the inclusion complex and tablet of prepared inclusion complex, characterization of the physico-chemical properties of the inclusion complex and tablet.

Results: In-vitro study (100 % drug release in 15 minutes), and in-vivo study of an AL-type (linear type) phase solubility diagram indicated a complex of AMS-HP-β-CD with the constant complex formation of 13245 M-1 at 37°C. The complex formation was confirmed by DSC, IR, and X-ray diffraction. The extent of absorption of the complex was determined in rats and was compared with that of pure drug and the market product. The peak plasma concentration of pure drug was 30.05 ± 1.3 ng/ml (Cmax) at 60 ± 3 min, whereas with the market product the value was 54.85 ± 1.2 ng/ml at 40 ± 1 min and with AMS-HPβCD inclusion complex the value was 79.01 ± 1.5 ng/ml. The AUCtot of the pure drug was 2980.34±3.6, the market product was 7238.73±2.9 and of the inclusion complex was 11871.1±2.8.

Conclusion: Pharmacodynamic studies in mice showed improved effectiveness of drug compared to pure drug. The oral bioavailability of AMS was improved from 48% to 78%.

Background: The cocktail approach of probing drug metabolizing enzymes, in particular cytochrome P450 (CYP) enzymes, is a cornerstone in clinical pharmacology studies. The first report of the famous "Pittsburg cocktail" has led the way for the availability of numerous cocktail substrate mixtures that provide options for indexing of CYP enzymes and/or evaluating the perpetrator capacity of the drug.

Objective: The key objectives were: 1) To collate, tabulate, and discuss the various cocktail substrates to determine specific CYP enzyme activity in clinical pharmacology studies with specific case studies; 2) To introspect on how the cocktail approach has withstood the test of time and evolved for enabling key decision(s); 3) To provide some futuristic views on the use of cocktail in drug discovery and development.

Method: The review was compiled after consultation with databases such as PubMed (NCBI database) and Google scholar to source various published literature on cocktail approaches in drug development.

Results: In the reviewed case studies, CYP indexing was achieved using a single time point (differing for specific CYP enzyme) plasma determination of the metabolite to parent ratio for all CYP enzymes with the exception of CYP3A4/5, where multiple time points were required for exposure measurement of midazolam and its metabolite. Likewise, a single void of urine, for a specific time duration, has been utilized for the recovery measurements of parent and metabolite for CYP indexing purposes.

Conclusion: The review provides a comprehensive list of various types of cocktail approaches and discusses some key considerations including the evolution of the cocktail approaches over time, perspectives and futuristic views for the use of probe drugs to aid the execution of clinical pharmacology studies and data interpretation.

Background: Mass balance studies conducted using radiolabeled material (14C or 3H) definitively characterize the Absorption, Metabolism, and Excretion (AME) of a drug. A critical aspect of these studies is that the radiotracer maintains its proportion to total drug from its administration to its complete elimination from the body. In the study of GDC-0276 in beagle dogs, we observed that the 14C radiotracer proportion (specific activity) varied through the study.

Method: High resolution-accurate mass spectrometric measurements of 12C and 14C isotopes of GDC- 0276 and its metabolites in plasma and excreta samples were used to determine the apparent specific activities, which were higher than the specific activity of the dosing formulation. Drug concentrations were adjusted to the observed specific activities to correct the readouts for GDC-0276 AME and PK.

Results: The enrichment of 14C, which resulted in higher specific activities, was consistent with faster and more extensive absorption of the radiotracer from the dosing formulation. This resulted in overestimating the dose absorbed, the extent of elimination in urine and bile, and the exposures to circulating metabolites. These biases were corrected by the specific activities determined for study samples by mass spectrometry.

Conclusion: Assuming that the radiotracer was proportional to total drug throughout a radiolabeled study was not valid in a 14C study in beagle dogs. This presumably resulted from unequal absorption of the radiotracer and nonradiolabeled test articles from the oral dose due to inequivalent solid forms. We were able to provide a more accurate description of the AME of GDC-0276 in dogs by characterizing the differential absorption of the radiotracer.

Background: Bupropion (BUP) is widely used as an antidepressant and smoking cessation aid. There are three major pharmacologically active metabolites of BUP, Erythrohydrobupropion (EB), Hydroxybupropion (OHB) and Threohydrobupropion (TB). At present, the mechanisms underlying the overall disposition and systemic clearance of BUP and its metabolites have not been well understood, and the role of transporters has not been studied.

Objective: The goal of this study was to investigate whether BUP and its active metabolites are substrates of the major hepatic uptake and efflux transporters.

Method: CHO or HEK293 cell lines or plasma membrane vesicles that overexpress OATP1B1, OATP1B3, OATP2B1, OATP4A1, OCT1, BCRP, MRP2 or P-gp were used in cellular or vesicle uptake and inhibition assays. Liquid Chromatography-Tandem Mass Spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) was used to quantify transport activity.

Results: BUP and its major active metabolites were actively transported into the CHO or HEK293 cells overexpressing OATP1B1, OATP1B3 or OATP2B1; however, such cellular active uptake could not be inhibited at all by prototypical inhibitors of any of the OATP transporters. These compounds were not transported by OCT1, BCRP, MRP2 or P-gp either. These results suggest that the major known hepatic transporters likely play a minor role in the overall disposition and systemic clearance of BUP and its active metabolites in humans. We also demonstrated that BUP and its metabolites were not transported by OATP4A1, an uptake transporter on the apical membrane of placental syncytiotrophoblasts, suggesting that OATP4A1 is not responsible for the transfer of BUP and its metabolites from the maternal blood to the fetal compartment across the placental barrier in pregnant women.

Conclusion: BUP and metabolites are not substrates of the major hepatic transporters tested and thus these hepatic transporters likely do not play a role in the overall disposition of the drug. Our results also suggest that caution should be taken when using the model CHO and HEK293 cell lines to evaluate potential roles of transporters in drug disposition.

Background & objective: Since the release of ivacaftor-lumacaftor, several red-flags have been raised that highlight the clinical efficacy of this combination strategy that may be limited due to antagonistic drug-drug interactions.

Method: The effect of ivacaftor, its major metabolites M1 and M6, lumacaftor and the novel cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) modulator tezacaftor at 10 µg/mL on the enzymatic activity of the major xenobiotic metabolizing enzymes CYP1A2 and CYP3A4 as well as the minor enzymes CYP2B6 and CYP2C9 was assayed.

Results: Lumacaftor (3.74 x 105 ± 3.11 x 104 RLU), and ivacaftor-M6 (3.43 x 105 ± 7.61 x 103 RLU) markedly induced the activity of CYP3A4. Ivacaftor (2.22 x 105 ± 3.94 x 104 RLU) showed a lower relative ratio of luminescence units compared to chloramphenicol (3.17 x 105 ± 1.55 x 104 RLU). Interestingly, ivacaftor-M1 (6.74 x 104 ± 3.09 x 104 RLU) and the novel CFTR modulator tezacaftor (2.40 x 104 ± 8.14 x 104 RLU) did not show CYP3A4 induction. In the CYP1A2 and CYP2C9 assay, all metabolites showed a decrease in the ratio of luminescence units compared to the controls. Ivacaftor, its major metabolites, lumacaftor and tezacaftor all showed a slight increase in the ratio of luminescence units compared to the control rifampin with CYP2B6.

Conclusion: All in all, present findings would suggest that lumacaftor and ivacaftor-M6 are strong inducers of CYP3A4, potentially reducing ivacaftor concentrations; ivacaftor itself induces CYP3A4 to some extent.

Background: Genistein (5,7-Dihydroxy-3-(4-hydroxyphenyl)-4H-1-benzopyran-4-one) is the most abundant isoflavone in soybean, which has been associated with a lower risk of development of cancer and cardiovascular diseases. Of particular interest regarding cancer preventive properties of flavonoids is their interaction with cytochrome P450 enzymes (CYPs). However, contradictory data report the effect of genistein on expression of СYPs enzymes.

Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of genistein on cytochrome P450 (CYP) gene expression levels in human hepatocellular carcinoma (HepG2/C3A) and colon adenocarcinoma (HT29) cells.

Methods: Real-time RT-PCR was used to examine the expression of genes families involved in xenobiotic metabolism, such as CYP1 (CYP1A1, CYP1B1), CYP2 (CYP2E1, CYP2D6), CYP3 (CYP3A4); and of a family involved in the catabolism of the all-trans-retinoic acid (ATRA), CYP26 (CYP26A1, CYP26B1).

Results: RT-qPCR data analysis showed that after 12 h of exposure of HepG2/C3A cells to genistein (5 and 50 µM) there was an upregulation of CYP1A1 and CYP1B1 and downregulation of CYP2D6, CYP26A1 and CYP26B1 mRNA levels. There was no change in the mRNA levels of CYP P450 genes in HT29 cells.

Conclusion: Our results suggest that treatment with genistein in non-toxic concentrations may impact the expression level of CYPs involved in the biotransformation of xenobiotics and drug metabolizing enzymes. Moreover, the downregulation of ATRA metabolism-related genes opens a new research path for the study of genistein as retinoic acid metabolism blocking agent for treating cancer and other pathologies.

Background: SynacinnTM contains five standardized herbal extracts of Orthosiphon Stamineus (OS), Syzygium polyanthum (SZ), Curcuma xantorrizza (CX), Cinnamomum zeylanicum (CZ) and Andrographis paniculata (AP) and is standardized against phytochemical markers of rosmarinic acid, gallic acid, curcumin, catechin and andrographolide respectively. This herbal medicine has been used as health supplement for diabetes. SynacinnTM is recommended to be consumed as supplement to the diabetic drugs. However, herb-drug interaction of SynacinnTM polyherbal with present drugs is unknown.

Methods: This study was designed to investigate the effect of SynacinnTM and its individual biomarkers on drug metabolizing enzymes (CYP1A2, CYP2B6, CYP2C8, CYP2C9, CYP2C19, CYP2D6, CYP3A4 (Midazolam), CYP3A4 (Testosteron)), to assess its herb-drug interaction potential through cytochrome P450 inhibition assay. This study was conducted using liquid chromatography- tandem mass spectroscopy (LC-MS/MS) using probe substrates using human liver microsomes against CYP1A2, CYP2B6, CYP2C8, CYP2C9, CYP2C19, CYP2D6, CYP3A4 (Midazolam) and CYP3A4 (Testosteron).

Results: Result showed that SynacinnTM at maximum concentration (5000 µg/ml) 100% inhibit CYP1A2, CYP2B6, CYP2C8, CYP2C9, CYP2C19, CYP2D6, CYP3A4 (Midazolam) and CYP3A4 (Testosteron). IC50 values determined were 0.23, 0.60, 0.47, 0.78, 1.23, 0.99, 1.01, and 0.91 mg/ml for CYP 1A2, 2B6, 2C8, 2C9, 2C19, 2D6, 3A4 (midazolam) and 3A4 (testosterone), respectively. Meanwhile, all individual biomarkers showed no, less or moderate inhibitory effect towards all the tested CYP450 except for curcumin that showed inhibition of CYP2C8 (91%), CYP2C9 (81%) and CYP2C19 (72%) at 10µM.

Conclusion: Curcumin was found to be an active constituent that might contribute to the inhibition of SynacinnTM against CYP2C8, CYP2C9 and CYP2C19. It can be suggested that SynacinnTM can be consumed separately from a drug known to be metabolized by all tested CYP450 enzymes.

Background: Acyl glucuronides of xenobiotics have been a subject of wide interest from the pharmaceutical industry with respect to biochemical reactivity, hepatic disposition, and enterohepatic circulation. The reactivity and lack of stability of an acyl glucuronide for a clinical candidate could pose major developability concerns. To date, multiple in vitro assays have been published to assess the risk associated with acyl glucuronides. Despite this fact, the translation of these findings to predicting clinical safety remains poor.

Methods: In the present investigation, we aimed to provide simplified in vitro strategy to understand the bioactivation potential of acyl glucuronides of 10 commercial, carboxylic acid containing drugs that have been categorized as "safe," "warning," or "withdrawn" with respect to their marketed use. Acyl migration was measured as a function of the number of peaks observed in LC-MSn analysis. In addition, we carried out reactive intermediate trapping studies with glutathione and methoxylamine to identify the key intermediates in the transacylation bioactivation and glycation pathways, respectively. We also conducted reaction phenotyping with recombinant UDP-glucuronosyltransferase (UGT) Supersomes® to investigate if the formation of acyl glucuronides could be linked to specific UGT isoform(s).

Results: Our results were in line with reported values in the literature. Our assay could be used in discovery research where half-life calculation completely eliminated the need to chemically synthesize the acyl glucuronide standard for risk assessment. We captured our results for risk assessment in a flow chart to simplify the various complex in vitro techniques historically presented.

Conclusion: While the compounds tested from "withdrawn" and "warning category" all formed the glutathione adduct in buffer, none from "safe" category formed the glutathione adduct. In contrast, none of the compounds tested from any category formed methoxylamine conjugate, a reaction with putative aldehyde moiety formed via acyl migration. These results, highly favor the nucleophilic displacement as a cause of the reactivity rather than the acyl migration via aldehyde formation. The workflow presented could also be applied in the discovery setting to triage new chemical entities of interest.

Background: The nonrenal clearance of drugs mediated by hepatic reduction is selectively altered by kidney disease. This study evaluated the influence of uremic serum on the expression and activity of reductase enzymes.

Methods: Human hepatocellular carcinoma cells (HepG2) were incubated with 5% pooled serum collected from patients with hemodialysis (pre- and post-dialysis session) or control subjects. The mRNA expression of various aldo-keto (AKR1C) and carbonyl (CBR) reductases were measured. Reductase metabolic activity was assessed in human liver cytosol or HepG2 cells using naltrexone as a substrate.

Results: Incubation of cells with pre-dialysis serum resulted in significant upregulation of AKR1C4 (by 63.2%) and CBR1 (by 34.6%) versus control serum. This increase was not observed for AKR1C1 and CBR1 with serum collected post-dialysis. While uremic serum had no effect on reductase activity, some instances with differences in metabolite formation among individual's pre- and post-dialysis samples were observed.

Conclusion: Although uremic serum can upregulate mRNA expression of several reductases, this effect was not observed at the activity level. Future studies are necessary to improve our understanding of the mechanistic effects of impaired kidney function on drug reduction.