Major reasons preventing many early candidates reaching market are the inappropriate ADME (absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion) properties and drug-induced toxicity. From a commercial perspective, it is desirable that poorly behaved compounds are removed early in the discovery phase rather than during the more costly drug development phases. As a consequence, over the past decade, ADME and toxicity (ADMET) screening studies have been incorporated earlier in the drug discovery phase. The intent of this review is to introduce the desirable attributes of a new chemical entity (NCE) to the medicinal chemist from an ADMET perspective. Fundamental concepts, key tools, reagents and experimental approaches used by the drug metabolism scientist to aid a modern project team in predicting human pharmacokinetics and assessing the "drug-like" molecule are discussed.
Induction of drug-metabolizing enzymes and transporters can cause drug-drug interactions and loss of efficacy. In vitro induction studies traditionally use primary hepatocyte cultures and enzyme activity with selected marker compounds. We investigated the use of a novel human hepatocyte clone, the Fa2N-4 cell line, as an alternative reagent, which is readily available and provides a consistent, reproducible system. We used the Invader assay to monitor gene expression in these cells. This assay is a robust, yet simple, high-throughput system for quantification of mRNA transcripts. CYP1A2, CYP3A4, CYP2C9, UGT1A, and MDR1 transcripts were quantified from total RNA extracts from Fa2N-4 cells treated with a panel of known inducers and compared with vehicle controls. In addition, we used enzyme activity assays to monitor the induction of CYP1A2, CYP2C9, and CYP3A4. The Fa2N-4 cells responded in a similar manner as primary human hepatocytes. Treatment with 10 M rifampin resulted in increases in CYP3A4 mRNA (17-fold) and activity (6--hydroxytestoterone formation, 9-fold); and in CYP2C9 mRNA (4-fold) and activity (4Ј-hydroxydiclofenac formation, 2-fold). Treatment with 50 M -naphthoflavone resulted in increases in CYP1A2 mRNA (15-fold) and activity (7-ethoxyresorufin O-dealkylation, 27-fold). UGT1A mRNA was induced by -naphthoflavone (2-fold), and MDR1 (P-glycoprotein) mRNA was induced by rifampin (3-fold). These preliminary data using a few prototypical inducers show that Fa2N-4 cells can be a reliable surrogate for primary human hepatocytes, and, when used in conjunction with the Invader technology, could provide a reliable assay for assessment of induction of drug-metabolizing enzymes and transporters.
The 4'-hydroxylation of S-mephenytoin exhibits a polymorphism in humans, with the poor metabolizer phenotype exhibiting a lower frequency in white (3% to 5%) than in Oriental populations (13% to 23%). Two mutations in CYP2C19 (CYP2C19m1 and CYP2C19m2) have recently been described that account for approximately 85% of white and 100% of Japanese poor metabolizers. This study examines whether these mutations account for the poor metabolizer phenotype in the Chinese population. The metabolism of S-mephenytoin exhibited a bimodal distribution in 244 unrelated Chinese subjects, although the distribution of the two phenotypes overlapped. In 75 selected Chinese subjects, CYP2C19 genotype analysis predicted the phenotype with 100% accuracy. The frequency of the poor metabolizer phenotype was approximately 11% (95% confidence interval 7% to 15%). The frequency of the CYP2C19m1 allele was 0.289, whereas that of CYP2C19m2 was 0.044. Homozygous extensive metabolizers had slightly lower ratios of S/R-mephenytoin compared with heterozygous extensive metabolizers, showing a gene-dosage effect. These data show the advantages of genotype analysis in investigations of the mephenytoin phenotype in Oriental subjects.
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