Constitutive androstane receptor (CAR) plays vital roles in multiple liver functions including xenobiotic and energy metabolisms, and also in hepatocarcinogenesis. CAR shows species-dependent ligand selectivity, leading to species differences in the actions of xenobiotics. Thus, to know whether a compound of interest activates human CAR or not is helpful for the chemical safety evaluation. However, it is very difficult to observe clear ligand response for CAR in cell-based assays, because of its high basal transcriptional activity in the absence of its ligands. In this study, we found that reporter assays using HepG2 cells human and mouse CAR fused with an epitope-tag at its C-terminus showed low basal activity and high response to the corresponding agonists but not to their indirect activator, phenobarbital. Using this system, 176 industrial chemicals were screened for their abilities to activate human and mouse CAR, and 6 compounds moderately or strongly activated human and/or mouse CAR. The CAR-mediated transcriptions induced by these compounds were blocked by clotrimazole or androstanol, the human and mouse CAR inverse agonists, respectively, suggesting that the newly identified CAR activators are agonistic ligands of CAR. Taken together, our reporter assay system may be a promising tool to assess chemicals' agonistic activities toward CAR.

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  Resistance to antiemetic treatment with 5-hydroxytryptamine 3 receptor antagonists is a problem, with 20–30% of patients showing unsatisfactory responses. Efflux transport by P-glycoprotein, encoded by the ATP-binding cassette ABCB1 gene in the blood–brain barrier, has been the suggested resistance mechanism. We evaluated the association between the antiemetic efficacy of granisetron plus dexamethasone and ABCB1 polymorphisms 3435C>T and 2677G>T/A. Sixty-four breast cancer patients treated with doxorubicin plus cyclophosphamide were evaluated for their responses to antiemetic therapy. Genotyping of patient DNA samples for ABCB1 single nucleotide polymorphisms was performed; the genotypes were then investigated for their association with the efficacy of prophylactic antiemetics. The acute phase complete response rate was 83% in GG subjects (n = 12), and 69% (n = 35) and 41% (n = 17) in heterozygous and homozygous carriers of the 2677T/A allele, respectively (p = 0.047). The ABCB1 2677 TT genotype group showed significantly lower rates of complete control of acute emesis than the group with GG genotypes (p = 0.045). No significant association with complete response was found for 3435C>T (p = 0.190). ABCB1 polymorphisms may influence the extent of acute emesis control in granisetron-treated patients, making the ABCB1 genotype a predictor of prophylactic antiemetic response.

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  UDP-glucuronosyltransferase (UGT) is an important class of phase II metabolizing enzymes, playing a pivotal role in detoxifying various substances and in the pathological procedures of some diseases. The present study aims to uncover the potential dysregulation pattern of UGTs in trinitrobenzene sulfonic acid (TNBS)–induced colitis. Colitis was induced by intra-rectally administering a single dose of TNBS (100 mg/kg). The expression and enzyme activity of hepatic UGTs of colitis rats were all down-regulated significantly except UGT1A7, for which the mRNA level was up-regulated. In contrast, UGT isoforms in the small intestine were relatively unaffected. In the colon, where the inflammation occurs, the mRNA level and enzyme activity of UGT1A1 and 1A6 were down-regulated, but those of UGT1A7 and 2B1 up-regulated. The mRNA levels of various transcription factors, including AhR, CAR, PXR, PPARγ, and FXR were all decreased, except for AhR and CAR in the small intestine and colon. Our data suggests that colitis induces an isoform-dependent and tissue-specific dysregulation of UGTs and their related transcription factors.

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  Vernonia amygdalina (VA), Carica papaya (CP), and Tapinanthus sessilifolius (ML) are widely used in some countries as medicinal herbs to treat ailments including malaria, cancer, and diabetes. We previously reported the inhibitory effects of these herbs on permeability glycoprotein (P-gp) in Caco-2 cell monolayers. This study used ex vivo and in vivo models to investigate the likelihood of P-gp-mediated herb-drug interactions occurring. The study utilized excised rat intestinal tissues mounted in Ussing chambers to predict changes in drug absorption and an in vivo study in rats using digoxin as the P-gp substrate. Apparent permeability values and pharmacokinetic parameters of digoxin were compared to determine if co-administration of digoxin with ML, CP, or VA modulated the activity of P-gp. When VA was co-administered, the total area under the plasma concentration-time curve was significantly higher (2.1-fold) than when digoxin was administered alone. Co-administration of ML, VA, and CP significantly increased the mean digoxin apparent permeability in the mucosal-to-serosal direction by 7.8, 43.3, and 54.5%, respectively, in comparison to when digoxin was administered alone. These findings suggest that VA increases intestinal absorption of digoxin in vivo by inhibiting P-gp and may also modulate the pharmacokinetic disposition of other p-gp substrate drugs.

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  This study was designed to confirm the appropriateness of the dose setting for a Japanese phase III study of rivaroxaban in patients with non-valvular atrial fibrillation (NVAF), which had been based on model simulation employing phase II study data. The previously developed mixed-effects pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic (PK-PD) model, which consisted of an oral one-compartment model parameterized in terms of clearance, volume and a first-order absorption rate, was rebuilt and optimized using the data for 597 subjects from the Japanese phase III study, J-ROCKET AF. A mixed-effects modeling technique in NONMEM was used to quantify both unexplained inter-individual variability and inter-occasion variability, which are random effect parameters. The final PK and PK-PD models were evaluated to identify influential covariates. The empirical Bayes estimates of AUC and C_max from the final PK model were consistent with the simulated results from the Japanese phase II study. There was no clear relationship between individual estimated exposures and safety-related events, and the estimated exposure levels were consistent with the global phase III data. Therefore, it was concluded that the dose selected for the phase III study with Japanese NVAF patients by means of model simulation employing phase II study data had been appropriate from the PK-PD perspective.

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  The present study investigated the inhibitory effect of cannabidiol (CBD), a major constituent of marijuana, on the catalytic activity of cytochrome P450 2C19 (CYP2C19). (S)-Mephenytoin 4′-hydroxylase activities of human liver microsomes (HLMs) and recombinant CYP2C19 were inhibited by CBD in a concentration-dependent manner (IC₅₀ = 8.70 and 2.51 µM, respectively). Omeprazole 5-hydroxylase and 3-O-methylfluorescein O-demethylase activities in recombinant CYP2C19 were also strongly inhibited by CBD (IC₅₀ = 1.55 and 1.79 µM, respectively). Kinetic analysis for inhibition revealed that CBD showed a mixed-type inhibition against (S)-mephenytoin 4′-hydroxylation by recombinant CYP2C19. To clarify the structural requirements for CBD-mediated CYP2C19 inhibition, the effects of CBD-related compounds on CYP2C19 activity were examined. Olivetol inhibited the (S)-mephenytoin 4′-hydroxylase activity of recombinant CYP2C19 with the IC₅₀ value of 15.3 µM, whereas d-limonene slightly inhibited the activity (IC₅₀ > 50 µM). The inhibitory effect of CBD-2′-monomethyl ether (IC₅₀ = 1.88 µM) on CYP2C19 was comparable to that of CBD, although the inhibitory potency of CBD-2′,6′-dimethyl ether (IC₅₀ = 14.8 µM) was lower than that of CBD. Cannabidivarin, possessing a propyl side chain, showed slightly less potent inhibition (IC₅₀ = 3.45 µM) as compared with CBD, whereas orcinol and resorcinol did not inhibit CYP2C19 activity at all. These results indicate that CBD caused potent CYP2C19 inhibition, in which one free phenolic hydroxyl group and the pentyl side chain of CBD may play important roles.

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  Gentiopicroside (GE), a naturally occurring iridoid glycoside, has been developed into a Novel Traditional Chinese Drug named gentiopicroside injection, and it was approved for the treatment of acute jaundice and chronic active hepatitis by SFDA. However, the inhibitory and inducible effects of GE on the activity of cytochrome P450 (CYP450) are unclear. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the ability of GE to inhibit and induce human cytochrome P450 enzymes in vitro. In human liver microsomes, GE inhibited CYP2A6 and CYP2E1 in a concentration-dependent manner, with IC₅₀ values of 21.8 µg/ml and 594 µg/ml, respectively, and the IC₅₀ of CYP2A6 was close to the C_max value observed clinically. GE was a non-competitive inhibitor of CYP2A6 at lower concentrations and a competitive inhibitor at higher concentrations. GE did not produce inhibition of CYP2C9, CYP2D6, CYP1A2 or CYP3A4 activities. However, a significant increase of CYP1A2 and CYP3A4 activity was observed at high concentrations. In cultured human hepatocytes no significant induction of CYP1A2, CYP3A4 or CYP2B6 was observed. Given these results, the in vivo potential inhibition of GE on CYP2A6 deserves further investigation, and it seems that the hepatoprotective effect of GE is irrelevant to its effect on P450s.

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  Cytochrome P450 3A4 (CYP3A4) is a member of the CYP family and is an important enzyme in drug metabolism. A compound that inhibits CYP3A4 activity could also affect the pharmacokinetics of other substrates, resulting in drug–drug interactions (DDIs) that could cause side effects. Pharmacokinetic data from drug-development studies in rats often determine the dosage used in human clinical trials. It is therefore useful to understand differences in metabolism in different species at an early stage in drug development. Human and rat CYP3A enzymes show different inhibition profiles with different drugs, although the mechanisms involved are not yet clear. Here we built three-dimensional quantitative structure–activity relationship (3D-QSAR) models using structure-based comparative molecular field analysis (CoMFA), to predict the direct inhibitory activity of ligands for human CYP3A4 and rat CYP3A1, based on computer-ligand docking. The alignment of the ligand docking poses suggested that key amino acid–ligand interactions (e.g., Thr309 in CYP3A4 and Pro310 in CYP3A1) characterized the different potencies with which the ligands inhibited CYP3A4 and CYP3A1. The 3D-QSAR models for human and rat CYP3A family inhibitors predicted the potency of inhibitors and could be useful for assessing DDIs at an early stage in drug discovery.

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  The aim of the present study was to clarify the involvement of P-glycoprotein (P-gp) or organic anion transporting polypeptide (Oatp) 1a5 in the pharmacokinetics of nadolol (NDL), a non-metabolized hydrophilic β-adrenoceptor blocker, in rats. Pretreatment with itraconazole (ICZ, P-gp inhibitor, 50 mg/kg) for 30 min before oral administration of NDL (10 mg/kg) significantly increased the area under the plasma concentration-time curve (AUC_0–∞) of NDL by 1.7-fold compared with control. Intragastric administration of dexamethasone (DEX, 8 mg/kg) for 4 consecutive days increased P-gp level in the intestine and the liver. In line with this, DEX pre-treatment decreased maximum plasma concentration (C_max) of NDL by 28% of control. To inhibit the intestinal Oatp1a5, naringin (NRG, 0.145 mg/kg) was preadministered orally for 30 min before the oral administrations of NDL or celiprolol (CEL, 10 mg/kg, Oatp1a5 substrate). Although NRG markedly reduced C_max and AUC_0–∞ of CEL by 60% and 65% of control, respectively, little difference was observed in the plasma concentration of NDL between NRG and control. These results suggest that P-gp is greatly involved in the pharmacokinetics of NDL, while the involvement of Oatp1a5 in the pharmacokinetics of NDL may be less than that of celiprolol in rats.

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  In order to quantitatively predict drug interactions associated with efavirenz-based anti-HIV therapy, we evaluated reversible and time-dependent inhibitions of efavirenz on eight cytochrome P450 (CYP) enzymes in vitro. The present study showed that efavirenz was a potent competitive inhibitor of CYP2B6 (average K_i = 1.68 µM in HLMs and K_i = 1.38 µM in expressed CYP2B6) and CYP2C8 (K_i = 4.78 µM in pooled HLMs and K_i = 4.80 µM in HLMs with CYP2C8*3/*3 genotype). Efavirenz was a moderate inhibitor of CYP2C9 (K_i = 19.46 µM) and CYP2C19 (K_i = 21.31 µM); and a weak inhibitor of CYP3A (K_i = 40.33 µM). No appreciable inhibition was observed on CYP1A2, CYP2A6 or CYP2D6. No time-dependent inhibition of the CYPs by efavirenz was observed in this study. Quantitative predictions showed that single dose of efavirenz may substantially slow the elimination of drugs predominately cleared by CYP2B6, CYP2C19 or by both enzymes and may also lower the area under the plasma concentration time curve (AUC) of active metabolites of some pro-drugs (e.g., clopidogrel and proguanil) by up to 30%. Depending on substrates, chronic administration of efavirenz may increase the AUC of CYP2C8 and CYP2C9 substrates about 3.5–4.4-fold and 1.7–2.0-fold at steady state.

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  SULT1A1 and SULT1A2 are encoded on the same chromatid, and exhibit a 96% amino acid similarity. To screen for genetic variants in these two closely related genes, SULT1A1 and SULT1A2 were directly sequenced in 50 healthy Koreans. A total of 30 variations were identified in SULT1A1: eight in exons, thirteen in introns, and nine in the 5′-untranslated region. With regard to SULT1A2, 21 variants were identified, comprising seven in exons, five in introns, and nine in the 5′-untranslated region. Among these 51 variations, one in SULT1A1 and eight in SULT1A2 were previously unidentified, which include three coding variants (SULT1A2 R37Q, 110G>A; SULT1A2 G50S, 148G>A; SULT1A2 F286L, 3819C>A) and one null allele (SULT1A2 E217Stop, 3542G>T). Two LD blocks, major haplotype structures, and 7 haplotype-tagging SNPs were determined together for SULT1A1 and SULT1A2 as a single set. Frequencies of common functional variants were compared among ethnic groups. Since these two SULT enzymes are on the same chromatid in a parallel direction with overlapping substrate specificities, a combined analysis using LD and haplotype-tagging single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) will facilitate understanding of the variations in the sulfation reactions of a wide range of substrates, as compared with analysis of individual genes.

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Drug Metabolism and Pharmacokinetics Vol. 28(3): 244–249 (2013)
The name of the university was missing for the #1 affiliation. The correct affiliation is as follows:
¹Department of Pharmacokinetics and Pharmacodynamics, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Shizuoka, Shizuoka, Japan

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