Toxicity has been estimated to be responsible for the attrition of approximately one-third of drug candidates and is a major contributor to the high cost of drug development, particularly when not recognized until late in clinical trials or post-marketing. The causes of drug toxicity can be classified in several ways and include mechanism-based (on-target) toxicity, immune hypersensitivity, off-target toxicity, and bioactivation/covalent modification. In addition, idiosyncratic responses are rare but can be one of the most problematic issues; several hypotheses for these have been advanced. Although covalent binding of drugs to proteins was described almost 40 years ago, the significance to toxicity has been difficult to establish; recent literature in this field is considered. The development of more useful biomarkers and short-term assays for rapid screening of drug toxicity early in the drug discovery/development process is a major goal, and some progress has been made using “omics” approaches.

View full abstract

  It is now widely appreciated that drug metabolites, in addition to the parent drugs themselves, can mediate the serious adverse effects exhibited by some new therapeutic agents, and as a result, there has been heightened interest in the field of drug metabolism from researchers in academia, the pharmaceutical industry, and regulatory agencies. Much progress has been made in recent years in understanding mechanisms of toxicities caused by drug metabolites, and in understanding the numerous factors that influence individual exposure to products of drug biotransformation. This review addresses some of these factors, including the role of drug-drug interactions, reactive metabolite formation, individual susceptibility, and species differences in drug disposition caused by genetic polymorphisms in drug-metabolizing enzymes. Examples are provided of adverse reactions that are linked to drug metabolism, and the mechanisms underlying variability in toxic response are discussed. Finally, some future directions for research in this field are highlighted in the context of the discovery and development of new therapeutic agents.

View full abstract

  Growing evidence indicates that the innate immune system and oxidative stress caused by gut-derived endotoxins play a key role in alcoholic liver disease (ALD). Intracellular mechanisms associated with endotoxin-induced signaling play a crucial role in the initiation and progression of ALD. It is now widely accepted that activation of the innate immune system and increased release of pro-inflammatory cytokines and other mediators play an important role in the development of ALD. Accumulating evidence suggests that alcohol-mediated upregulation of CYP2E1 expression may initiate lipid peroxidation via reactive oxygen species. Non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) is a liver disease characterized by histopathological features similar to those observed in ALD, but in the absence of significant alcohol consumption. Initial efforts to clarify the mechanisms that promote the progression from steatosis to steatohepatitis somewhat artificially divided disease mechanisms into “first and second hits.” This model considered the development of steatosis to be the “first hit,” increasing the sensitivity of the liver to the putative “second hit,” leading to hepatocyte injury, inflammation, and oxidative stress. We have emphasized the important role of gut-derived bacterial toxins, the innate immune system, and oxidative stress in the common pathogenic mechanism in ALD and NASH progression.

View full abstract

  There is strong evidence that most idiosyncratic drug reactions (IDRs) are immune-mediated and are caused by reactive metabolites of a drug rather than by the drug itself. Several hypotheses have been proposed by which a drug could induce an immune response. The major hypotheses are the hapten hypothesis and the danger hypothesis; however, the characteristics and spectrum of IDRs are different with different drugs, and this likely reflects mechanistic differences; therefore, no one hypothesis is likely to explain all IDRs. Some IDRs appear to involve epigenetic effects, direct activation of antigen-presenting cells, or disturbing the normal balance of the immune system. It has been suggested that many cases of idiosyncratic liver injury are not immune-mediated, and other mechanisms such as mitochondrial injury may be involved. It is essential that any hypothesis be consistent with the clinical characteristics of the IDR. Although the characteristics of most idiosyncratic liver injury do not suggest that mitochondria are the major target, it is quite possible that milder mitochondrial injury could stimulate an immune-mediated reaction. The observation that IDRs can vary widely among different drugs and different patients is most easily explained by an immune mechanism in which the target of the immune response is different.

View full abstract

  Troglitazone induced an idiosyncratic, hepatocellular injury-type hepatotoxicity in humans. Statistically, double null genotype of glutathione S-transferase isoforms, GSTT1 and GSTM1, was a risk factor, indicating a low activity of the susceptible patients in scavenging chemically reactive metabolites. CYP3A4 and CYP2C8 were involved in the metabolic activation and CYP3A4 was inducible by repeated administrations of troglitazone. The genotype analysis, however, indicated that the metabolic idiosyncrasy resides in the degradation of but not in the production of the toxic metabolites of troglitazone. Antibody against hepatic aldolase B was detected in the case patients, suggesting involvement of immune reaction in the toxic mechanism. Troglitazone induced apoptotic cell death in human hepatocytes at a high concentration, and this property may have served as the immunological danger signal, which is thought to play an important role in activating immune reactions. Hypothesis is proposed in analogy to the virus-induced hepatitis. After the troglitazone-case, pharmaceutical companies implemented screening systems for chemically reactive metabolites at early stage of drug development, taking both the amount of covalent binding to the proteins in vitro and the assumed clinical dose level into consideration. At the post-marketing stage, gene analyses of the case patients, if any, to find pharmacogenetic biomarkers could be a powerful tool for contraindicating to the risky patients.

View full abstract

  The aim of this study was to evaluate limited sampling designs to estimate the maximal concentration (C_max) and area under the curve (AUC) of mizoribine in pediatric patients with renal disease. We utilized 48 serum mizoribine concentration profiles obtained from the full (6-point) sampling pharmacokinetic test, and estimated 48 individual C_max and AUC values accurately with Bayesian analysis using the full sampling data. We then developed limited sampling models (LSM) for C_max and AUC using 1–4 serum mizoribine concentration data points. The C_max and AUC estimation performance of the Bayesian and LSM analysis was fairly good in the 3-point (2, 3, and 6 hr after the dose) sampling design. In addition, the C_max estimation performance of the Bayesian and LSM analysis deteriorated only marginally even in the 1-point (3 hr) sampling design. On the other hand, the AUC estimation performance seemed to be inadequate in the 1-point (3 hr) sampling design; however, it improved markedly in the 2-point (3 and 6 hr) sampling design. These findings suggested that the 1-point (3 hr) sampling design is promising for approximate C_max estimation, but that the 2-point (3 and 6 hr) sampling design is preferable to estimate the AUC of mizoribine.

View full abstract

  Poly[2-methacryloyloxyethyl phosphorylcholine-co-n-butyl methacrylate]s (PMBs) are water-soluble solid copolymers of 2-methacryloyloxyethyl phosphorylcholine (MPC) and n-butyl methacrylate with a molecular weight of 30,000 (PMB50T) or 100,000 (PMB100T). Here, we characterized the solubilizing properties of PMBs using miconazole (MCZ), vidarabine (Ara-A) and griseofulvin (GRF), which are class 2, 3 and 4 compounds, respectively, in the Biopharmaceutics Classification System (BCS). Moreover, we evaluated the enhancement of gastric absorption of GRF dissolved in PMB solutions and the toxicity of PMBs in rats. PMB50T solution dramatically increased the solubility of GRF and MCZ compared with Ara-A, and these drugs became more soluble as the concentration of PMB50T was increased. The solubility of GRF in 10% PMB solutions was higher than with any other tested aqueous solubilizer. When a solution of GRF (20 mg/10 mL/kg) in 10% PMB was orally administered to rats, GRF absorption was greatly increased compared with that following administration of a suspension in water or Gelucire. After repeated oral administration of PMBs once daily for 14 successive days, no organ lesions or changes in biochemical parameters were observed. Thus, the polymers are expected to be useful and safe solubilizers and oral absorption enhancers for poorly soluble lipophilic drugs.

View full abstract

  PEPT2 mediates the H⁺ gradient-driving reabsorption of di- and tri-peptides, and various peptidomimetic compounds in the kidney. This study examines the influence of urinary pH modification through sodium bicarbonate and ammonium chloride pre-treatments on the function of PEPT2 in healthy subjects, using cephalexin as the probe drug. Sixteen male subjects received a single oral dose of 1000 mg cephalexin under ammonium chloride and sodium bicarbonate treatment, respectively, with a wash-out period of one week. The study subjects were genotyped for PEPT2 polymorphic variants. Cephalexin concentrations in plasma and urine were determined by high performance liquid chromatography. The mean renal clearance of cephalexin was significantly higher under ammonium chloride treatment than that under sodium bicarbonate treatment (P < 0.01). This difference was significant for PEPT2*2/*2 (P = 0.017) but not for PEPT2*1/*1 (P = 0.128). No differences were observed for other pharmacokinetic parameters. The findings of this study suggest that urinary pH changes may alter the pharmacokinetics of PEPT2's substrates. This effect was more obvious for the PEPT2*2/*2.

View full abstract

  Aldehyde oxidase (AO) plays an important role in metabolizing antitumor and antiviral drugs, including methotrexate, cyclophosphamide and acyclovir. Green tea and its catechins have been shown to modulate the activities of various xenobiotic-metabolizing cytochrome P450 species, both in vivo and in vitro, but their effect on AO has not been studied. Therefore, we evaluated the effect of tea beverages on AO activity in rat and human liver cytosol. We also investigated the influence of several catechins on AO activity in rat liver cytosol. AO activity was evaluated in terms of oxidation of N-1-methylnicotinamide to N-1-methyl-2-pyridone-5-carboxamide and N-1-methyl-4-pyridone-3-carboxamide. Bottled green tea beverages at 10% (vol/vol) inhibited AO activity by 90.0–93.5%, while at 1.0% (vol/vol), they reduced AO activity by 73.9–90.0%. At 0.1% (vol/vol), green tea II and III, which have high contents of catechins and their derivatives, inhibited AO activity by 24.3% and 38.8%, respectively. Bottled mineral water had no effect. AO activity was inhibited potently by epicatechin and epicatechin gallate. These results indicate that the AO-inhibitory activity of tea beverages is predominantly due to catechins and their derivatives. Thus, consumption of tea beverages may cause a decrease of AO activity, which may result in reduced clearance of drugs that are AO substrates.

View full abstract

  Standard incubation procedures for carrying out microsomal assays involve the use of less than 1% w/v organic solvents to minimize the potential inhibitory effects of organic solvents on metabolic activity. This presents a practical limitation for poorly soluble xenobiotics, which cannot be incubated at concentrations high enough to obtain a V_max, and therefore subsequent values for K_m and Cl_int cannot be calculated. Our goal was to study the application of a variety of pharmaceutical excipients to aid the solubilization of compounds in vitro in glucuronidation incubations, without affecting the reaction kinetics. In vitro glucuronidation incubations were carried out in human liver microsomes with 4-methylumbelliferone (4-MU) and the kinetics of 4-MU glucuronidation in the presence of excipients were compared to that in control incubations without any excipients. In addition, IC₇₅ values were calculated for each excipient.
We observed that HPBCD (Hydroxypropyl-β-cyclodextrin) may be employed in in vitro glucuronidation incubations up to 0.5% w/v without affecting the Cl_int of 4-MU. Although NMP (N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone) and DMA (N,N-dimethylacetamide); showed low IC₇₅ values approximately 0.1% w/v each, neither excipients altered the Cl_int of 4-MUG (4-methylumbelliferyl-β-D-glucuronide) formation. Our studies point toward possible applications of pharmaceutical excipients to carry out in vitro glucuronidation of substrates with poor aqueous solubility, in order to estimate Cl_int and subsequently scaled organ clearance values.

View full abstract

  Cytochrome P450 oxidoreductase (POR) transfers electrons from NADPH to all microsomal cytochrome P450 (CYP) enzymes and is necessary for microsomal CYP activities. In this study, to find genetic variations and to elucidate the haplotype structures of POR, we comprehensively screened the genetic variations in the 5′-flanking region, all the exons and their flanking introns of POR for 235 Japanese subjects. Seventy-five genetic variations including 26 novel ones were found: 7 were in the 5′-flanking region, 2 in the 5′-untranslated region (5′-UTR, non-coding exon 1), 16 in the coding exons (10 nonsynonymous and 6 synonymous), 45 in the introns, 4 in the 3′-UTR and 1 in the 3′-flanking region. Of these, 4 novel nonsynonymous variations, 86C>T (T29M), 1648C>T (R550W), 1708C>T (R570C) and 1975G>A (A659T), were detected with allele frequencies of 0.002. We also detected known nonsynonymous SNPs 683C>T (P228L), 1237G>A (G413S), 1453G>A (A485T), 1508C>T (A503V), 1510G>A (G504R) and 1738G>C (E580Q) with frequencies of 0.002, 0.009, 0.002, 0.434, 0.002 and 0.002, respectively. Based on the linkage disequilibrium (LD) profiles, the analyzed region could be divided into two LD blocks. For Blocks 1 and 2, 14 and 46 haplotypes were inferred, respectively, and 2 and 6 common haplotypes found in more than 0.03 frequencies accounted for more than 81% of the inferred haplotypes. This study provides fundamental and useful information for the pharmacogenetic studies of drugs metabolized by CYPs in the Japanese population.

View full abstract