In vitro characterization of the metabolic pathways and cytochrome P450 inhibition and induction potential of BMS-690514, an ErbB/vascular endothelial growth factor receptor inhibitor

Evaluation of Adverse Drug Properties with Cryopreserved Human Hepatocytes and the Integrated Discrete Multiple Organ Co-culture (IdMOC(TM)) System

Human hepatocytes, with complete hepatic metabolizing enzymes, transporters and cofactors, represent the gold standard for in vitro evaluation of drug metabolism, drug-drug interactions, and hepatotoxicity. Successful cryopreservation of human hepatocytes enables this experimental system to be used routinely. The use of human hepatocytes to evaluate two major adverse drug properties: drug-drug interactions and hepatotoxicity, are summarized in this review. The application of human hepatocytes in metabolism-based drug-drug interaction includes metabolite profiling, pathway identification, P450 inhibition, P450 induction, and uptake and efflux transporter inhibition. The application of human hepatocytes in toxicity evaluation includes in vitro hepatotoxicity and metabolism-based drug toxicity determination. A novel system, the Integrated Discrete Multiple Organ Co-culture (IdMOC) which allows the evaluation of nonhepatic toxicity in the presence of hepatic metabolism, is described.

In vitro oxidative metabolism of cajaninstilbene Acid by human liver microsomes and hepatocytes: involvement of cytochrome p450 reaction phenotyping, inhibition, and induction studies

Cajaninstilbene acid (CSA, 3-hydroxy-4-prenyl-5-methoxystilbene-2-carboxylic acid), an active constituent of pigeonpea leaves, an important tropical crop, is known for its clinical effects in the treatment of diabetes, hepatitis, and measles and its potential antitumor effect. In this study, the effect of the cytochrome P450 isozymes on the activity of CSA was investigated. Two hydroxylation metabolites were identified in the study. The reaction phenotype study showed that CYP3A4, CYP2C9, and CYP1A2 were the major cytochrome P450 isozymes in the metabolism of CSA. The metabolic food-drug interaction potential was also evaluated in vitro. The effect of CSA inhibition/induction of enzymatic activities of seven drug-metabolizing CYP450 isozymes in vitro was estimated by high-performance liquid chromatography and liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry analytical techniques. CSA showed different inhibitory effects on different isozymes. CSA reversibly inhibited CYP3A4 and CYP2C9 activities in human liver microsomes with IC50 values of 28.3 and 31.3 μM, respectively, but exhibited no inhibition activities to CYP1A2, CYP2A6, CYP2C19, CYP2D6, and CYP2E1. CSA showed a weak effect on CYP450 enzymes in a time-dependent manner. CSA did not substantially induce CYP1A2, CYP2A6, CYP2B6, CYP2E1, CYP2C9, CYP2C19, CYP2D6, or CYP3A4 at concentrations up to 30 μM in primary human hepatocytes. The results of our experiments may be helpful to predict clinically significant food-drug interactions when other drugs are administered in combination with CSA.

Biomarkers and human hepatocytes

The accuracy of preclinical safety evaluation to predict human toxicity is hindered by species difference in drug metabolism and toxic mechanism between human and nonhuman animals. In vitro human-based experimental systems allowing the assessment of human-specific drug properties represent a logical and practical approach to provide human-specific information. An advantage of in vitro approaches is that they require only limited amounts of time and resources, and, most importantly, do not invoke harm to human patients. Human hepatocytes, with complete hepatic metabolizing enzymes, transporters and cofactors, represent a practical and useful experimental system to assess drug metabolism. The use of human hepatocytes to evaluate two major adverse drug properties, drug–drug interactions and hepatotoxicity, are reviewed. The application of human hepatocytes in metabolism-based drug–drug interactions includes metabolite profiling, pathway identification, CYP450 inhibition, CYP450 induction, and uptake and efflux transporter inhibition. The application of human hepatocytes in toxicity evaluation includes in vitro hepatotoxicity and metabolism-based drug toxicity determination. Correlation of drug toxicity with proteomics and genomics data may allow the discovery of clinical biomarkers for early detection of liver toxicity.

Inhibitory effect of ketoconazole on the pharmacokinetics of a multireceptor tyrosine kinase inhibitor BMS-690514 in healthy participants: assessing the mechanism of the interaction with physiologically-based pharmacokinetic simulations

BMS-690514, a selective inhibitor of the ErbB and vascular endothelial growth factor receptors, has shown antitumor activity in early clinical development. The compound is metabolized by multiple enzymes, with CYP3A4 responsible for the largest fraction (34%) of metabolism. It is also a substrate of P-glycoprotein (P-gp) in vitro. To assess the effect of ketoconazole on BMS-690514 pharmacokinetics, 17 healthy volunteers received 200 mg BMS-690514 alone followed by 100 mg BMS-690514 with ketoconazole (400 mg once daily for 4 days). The AUC(∞) of 100 mg BMS-690514 concomitantly administered with ketoconazole was similar to that of 200 mg BMS-690514 alone. The dose-normalized C(max) and AUC(∞) of BMS-690514 from the 100-mg BMS-690514/400-mg ketoconazole treatment increased by 55% and 127%, respectively, relative to those from 200 mg BMS-690514 alone. Prediction of the drug-drug interaction (DDI) using a population-based simulator (Simcyp) indicated that, in addition to CYP3A4 inhibition, the inhibition of P-gp by ketoconazole in the intestine, liver, and kidneys must be invoked to fully account for the DDI observed. This finding suggests that the inhibition of P-gp by ketoconazole, along with its effect on CYP3A4, needs to be considered when designing a DDI study of ketoconazole with a victim drug that is a dual substrate.

Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) receptors: drugs and new inhibitors

The recent launch onto the market of five VEGFR inhibitors indicates the therapeutic value of these agents and the importance of the research in the field of angiogenesis inhibitors for future oncologic therapy. In this Perspective we briefly report the inhibitors that are in clinical use, while we dedicate two wider sections to the compounds that are in clinical trials and to the new derivatives appearing in the literature. We especially consider the medicinal chemistry aspect of the topic and report the structure-activity relationship studies and the binding mode of some inhibitors as well as the biological data of the compounds discovered in the past 5 years.