Bioanalysis in oncology drug discovery

ZY12201, A Potent TGR5 Agonist: Identification of a Novel Pan CYP450 Inhibitor Tool Compound for In-Vitro Assessment

BACKGROUND

Identification of clinical drug-drug interaction (DDI) risk is an important aspect of drug discovery and development owing to poly-pharmacy in present-day clinical therapy. Drug metabolizing enzymes (DME) plays important role in the efficacy and safety of drug candidates. Hence evaluation of a New Chemical Entity (NCE) as a victim or perpetrator is very crucial for DDI risk mitigation. ZY12201 (2-((2-(4-(1H-imidazol-1-yl) phenoxy) ethyl) thio)-5-(2-(3, 4- dimethoxy phenyl) propane-2-yl)-1-(4-fluorophenyl)-1H-imidazole) is a novel and potent Takeda-G-protein-receptor-5 (TGR-5) agonist. ZY12201 was evaluated in-vitro to investigate the DDI liabilities.

OBJECTIVE

The key objective was to evaluate the CYP inhibition potential of ZY12201 for an opportunity to use it as a tool compound for pan CYP inhibition activities.

METHOD

In-vitro drug metabolizing enzymes (DME) inhibition potential of ZY12201 was evaluated against major CYP isoforms (1A2, 2B6, 2C8, 2C9, 2C19, 2D6, 2E1, and 3A4/5), aldehyde oxidase (AO), monoamine oxidase (MAO), and flavin-containing monooxygenase (FMO in human liver cytosol/mitochondrial preparation/ microsomes using probe substrates and Liquid Chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS-MS) method.

RESULTS

The study conducted on ZY12201 at 100 µM ZY12201 was found to reduce the metabolism of vanillin (AO probe substrate), tryptamine (MAO probe substrate), and benzydamine (FMO probe substrate) by 49.2%, 14.7%, and 34.9%, respectively. ZY12201 Ki values were 0.38, 0.25, 0.07, 0.01, 0.06, 0.02, 7.13, 0.03 and 0.003 μM for CYP1A2, CYP2B6, CYP2C8, CYP2C9, CYP2C19, CYP2D6, CYP2E1, CYP3A4/5 (substrate: testosterone) and CYP3A4/5 (substrate: midazolam), respectively. Time-dependant CYP inhibition potential of ZY12201 was assessed against CYP1A2, CYP2B6, CYP2C8, CYP2C9, CYP2C19, CYP2D6, CYP2E1, and CYP3A4/5 and no apparent IC50 shift was observed.

CONCLUSIONS

ZY12201, at 100 µM concentration showed low inhibition potential of AO, MAO, and FMO. ZY12201 was found as a potent inhibitor of CYP1A2, 2B6, 2C8, 2C9, 2C19, 2D6, and 3A4/5 while moderately inhibits to CYP2E1. Inhibition of CYP1A2, CYP2B6, CYP2C19, and CYP2E1 by ZY12201 was competitive, while inhibition of CYP2C8, CYP2C9, CYP2D6, and CYP3A4/5 was of mixed-mode. ZY12201 is a non-time-dependent inhibitor of CYP1A2, CYP2B6, CYP2C8, CYP2C9, CYP2C19, CYP2D6, CYP2E1, CYP3A4/5. In summary, the reported Ki values unequivocally support that ZY12201 has a high potential to inhibit all major CYP isoforms. ZY12201 can be effectively used as a tool compound for in-vitro evaluation of CYP-based metabolic contribution to total drug clearance in the lead optimization stage of Drug Discovery Research.

Evaluation of In Vitro Cytochrome P450 Inhibition and In Vitro Fate of Structurally Diverse N-Oxide Metabolites: Case Studies with Clozapine, Levofloxacin, Roflumilast, Voriconazole and Zopiclone

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES

The role of metabolite(s) to elicit potential clinical drug-drug interaction (DDI) via cytochrome P450 enzymes (CYP) is gaining momentum. In this context, the role of N-oxides for in vitro CYP inhibition has not been evaluated. The objectives of this study were: (a) to examine in vitro CYP inhibition of N-oxides of clozapine, levofloxacin, roflumilast, voriconazole and zopiclone in a tiered approach and (b) evaluate in vitro fate of aforementioned N-oxides examined in recombinant CYPs, human microsomes and hepatocytes.

METHODS

CYP enzymes evaluated in the work included: CYP1A2, 2B6, 2C9, 2C19, 2D6 and 3A4 using standard procedures for incubation with appropriate probe substrates. The initial cutoff for CYP inhibition was ≥50% using 2 and 10 µM concentrations of various N-oxide metabolites (Tier 1). IC₅₀ values were constructed for the CYP pathway(s) that showed ≥50% inhibition (Tier 2). In addition, co-incubation of N-oxides with parent was performed to evaluate potentiation of CYP inhibition (Tier 3).

RESULTS

N-oxides of clozapine (CYP2B6/2C19) and voriconazole (CYP2C9/3A4) showed CYP inhibition ≥50%. Clozapine-N-oxide inhibited CYP2B6 and CYP2C19 pathways with IC₅₀ of 8.3 and 8.7 µM, respectively. Voriconazole-N-oxide inhibited CYP2B6 and CYP2C19 pathways with IC₅₀ of 10.5 and 11.2 µM, respectively. Co-incubation of clozapine-N-oxide with clozapine potentiated CYP2B6/2C19 pathways; however, incubation of voriconazole-N-oxide with voriconazole did not appear to potentiate the CYP pathways because parent caused an inhibition of almost 80%. None of the N-oxides appeared to further undergo biotransformation as judged by the in vitro metabolic fate experiments (stage 2).

CONCLUSIONS

Clinical DDI potential of specific CYP enzymes needs to be considered arising due to circulatory concentrations of certain N-oxides depending on the dose size and/or frequency of dosing of the respective parent drugs.