Influence of corticosteroid on hexobarbital and tolbutamide disposition

Cytochrome P450 pharmacogenetics as a predictor of toxicity and clinical response to pulse cyclophosphamide in lupus nephritis

OBJECTIVE

Pulse cyclophosphamide is the treatment of choice for severe lupus nephritis. However, not all patients respond to this therapy, and gonadal toxicity is of particular concern. Cyclophosphamide is a prodrug that requires activation by cytochrome P450 (CYP) enzymes. We conducted a retrospective cohort study to test whether genetic polymorphisms of these enzymes are associated with the toxicity of, and clinical response to, cyclophosphamide in patients with lupus nephritis.

METHODS

Sixty-two patients with proliferative lupus nephritis treated with cyclophosphamide were genotyped for common variant alleles of CYP2B6, 2C19, 2C9, and 3A5. We examined the association between these genotypes and the following clinical end points: development of premature ovarian failure, end-stage renal disease (ESRD), doubling of serum creatinine level, and achievement of complete renal response.

RESULTS

The observed frequencies of the variant alleles CYP2B6*5, CYP2C19*2, CYP2C9*2, and CYP3A5*3 were 12.1%, 25.0%, 4.0%, and 75.8%, respectively. Patients who were either heterozygous or homozygous for CYP2C19*2 had a significantly lower risk of developing premature ovarian failure (relative risk 0.10; 95% confidence interval 0.02-0.52), after adjustment for age and total number of cyclophosphamide pulses received. In a survival analysis, patients homozygous for CYP2B6*5 (n = 3) or CYP2C19*2 (n = 4) had a higher probability of reaching ESRD (P = 0.0005) and of doubling the creatinine level (P = 0.0005) as well as a trend toward a lower probability of achieving a complete renal response (P = 0.051).

CONCLUSION

Determination of selected cytochrome P450 enzyme genotypes may be valuable for predicting the risk of premature ovarian failure in lupus nephritis patients treated with cyclophosphamide. The association of these genotypes with renal response needs further validation.

Clinical significance of the cytochrome P450 2C19 genetic polymorphism

Cytochrome P450 2C19 (CYP2C19) is the main (or partial) cause for large differences in the pharmacokinetics of a number of clinically important drugs. On the basis of their ability to metabolise (S)-mephenytoin or other CYP2C19 substrates, individuals can be classified as extensive metabolisers (EMs) or poor metabolisers (PMs). Eight variant alleles (CYP2C19*2 to CYP2C19*8) that predict PMs have been identified. The distribution of EM and PM genotypes and phenotypes shows wide interethnic differences. Nongenetic factors such as enzyme inhibition and induction, old age and liver cirrhosis can also modulate CYP2C19 activity. In EMs, approximately 80% of doses of the proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) omeprazole, lansoprazole and pantoprazole seem to be cleared by CYP2C19, whereas CYP3A is more important in PMs. Five-fold higher exposure to these drugs is observed in PMs than in EMs of CYP2C19, and further increases occur during inhibition of CYP3A-catalysed alternative metabolic pathways in PMs. As a result, PMs of CYP2C19 experience more effective acid suppression and better healing of duodenal and gastric ulcers during treatment with omeprazole and lansoprazole compared with EMs. The pharmacoeconomic value of CYP2C19 genotyping remains unclear. Our calculations suggest that genotyping for CYP2C19 could save approximately 5000 US dollars for every 100 Asians tested, but none for Caucasian patients. Nevertheless, genotyping for the common alleles of CYP2C19 before initiating PPIs for the treatment of reflux disease and H. pylori infection is a cost effective tool to determine appropriate duration of treatment and dosage regimens. Altered CYP2C19 activity does not seem to increase the risk for adverse drug reactions/interactions of PPIs. Phenytoin plasma concentrations and toxicity have been shown to increase in patients taking inhibitors of CYP2C19 or who have variant alleles and, because of its narrow therapeutic range, genotyping of CYP2C19 in addition to CYP2C9 may be needed to optimise the dosage of phenytoin. Increased risk of toxicity of tricyclic antidepressants is likely in patients whose CYP2C19 and/or CYP2D6 activities are diminished. CYP2C19 is a major enzyme in proguanil activation to cycloguanil, but there are no clinical data that suggest that PMs of CYP2C19 are at a greater risk for failure of malaria prophylaxis or treatment. Diazepam clearance is clearly diminished in PMs or when inhibitors of CYP2C19 are coprescribed, but the clinical consequences are generally minimal. Finally, many studies have attempted to identify relationships between CYP2C19 genotype and phenotype and susceptibility to xenobiotic-induced disease, but none of these are compelling.

Role of cytochrome P450 enzymes in drug-drug interactions

Many adverse drug-drug interactions are attributable to pharmacokinetic problems and can be understood in terms of alterations of P450-catalyzed reactions. Much is now known about the human P450 enzymes and what they do, and it has been possible to apply this information to issues related to practical problems. A relatively small subset of the total number of human P450s appears to be responsible for a large fraction of the oxidation of drugs. The three major reasons for drug-drug interactions involving the P450s are induction, inhibition, and possibly stimulation, with inhibition appearing to be the most important in terms of known clinical problems. With the available knowledge of human P450s and reagents, it is possible to do in vitro experiments with drugs and make useful predictions. The results can be tested in vivo, again using assays based on our knowledge of human P450s. This approach has the capability of not only improving predictions about which drugs might show serious interaction problems, but also decreasing the number of in vivo interaction studies that must be performed. These approaches should improve with further refinement and technical advances.

Hydroxylation of the antimalarial drug 58C80 by CYP2C9 in human liver microsomes: comparison with mephenytoin and tolbutamide hydroxylations

58C80 [2-(4-t-butylcyclohexyl)-3-hydroxy-1,4-naphthoquinone] is an experimental naphthoquinone antimalarial drug which undergoes extensive alkyl hydroxylation to a single t-butylhydroxy metabolite in man in vivo and also in human liver microsomes, where this is catalysed primarily by a 54 kDa CYP2C9 form of cytochrome P450, P450hB20-27. Microsomal 58C80 hydroxylation (58OH) activity showed a marked inter-individual variation in a bank of 39 individual human livers but did not correlate with the immunoquantified levels of either of two microsomal proteins (54 and 50 kDa, respectively) recognised by a polyclonal antibody against CYP2C9 (P450hB20-27). Neither 58OH activity nor the concentrations of the CYP2C9-immunorelated proteins showed any relationship with the individuals' age, sex, cigarette smoking habit, alcohol consumption or clinical drug treatment, including long term antiepileptic therapy with phenobarbitone or phenytoin. 58OH activity did not correlate with either TBOH (tolbutamide hydroxylation) or MPOH (S-mephenytoin 4'-hydroxylation) activities, while 58C80 inhibited both TBOH and MPOH in human liver microsomes non-competitively (Ki = 30 and 175 microM for TBOH and MPOH, respectively). 58C80 could be a useful model substrate for measuring human CYP2C activity in vitro.

Influence of prednisolone on antipyrine elimination in patients with obstructive lung disease

The influence of prednisolone on the elimination of antipyrine has been investigated. The one-sample antipyrine clearance was estimated in 23 outpatients with obstructive lung disease before and after treatment with prednisolone 30 or 50 mg/day for 7 days. During prednisolone administration antipyrine clearance decreased from 54.9 +/- 14.8 to 51.7 +/- 14.6 ml/min (mean +/- SD; p less than 0.05). The results indicate that prednisolone decreases the rate of antipyrine elimination, but not to an extent suggesting a clinically important change in hepatic drug metabolism.

D-glucaric acid excretion in critical care patients--comparison with 6 beta-hydroxycortisol excretion and serum gamma-glutamyltranspeptidase activity and relation to multiple drug therapy

The incidence of increased drug metabolism activity as a consequence of multiple drug therapy at a surgical intensive care ward has been studied non-invasively by determinations of daily urinary D-glucaric acid (GA) excretion rates. Among 165 randomly selected patients, GA excretion was stimulated in 76 cases (= 46%). Exploratory data analysis showed that increases in GA excretion are primarily due to administration of barbiturates (pentobarbitone, Nembutal), miconazole (Daktar) and, to a lesser extent, neuroleptics. Surprisingly, the large number of simultaneously administered additional drugs failed to increase GA excretion. Urinary 6 beta-hydroxycortisol (6 beta-OHF) and 17-hydroxycorticosteroid (17-OHCS) excretion rates were correlated in 34 patients with GA excretion; patients not receiving known enzyme inducers showed low GA values but high 6 beta-OHF and 17-OHCS values, however, with a ratio of 6 beta-OHF/17-OHCS in the normal range. Patients receiving high dose pentobarbitone treatment failed to exhibit significantly increased 6 beta-OHF and 17-OHCS or 6 beta-OHF/17-OHCS values. Miconazole treatment resulted in a significantly increased ratio of 6 beta-OHF/17-OHCS. gamma-Glutamyltranspeptidase activity in serum showed no correlation with GA excretion (n = 91).

Effect of age and liver cirrhosis on the pharmacokinetics of nitrazepam

1 The effect of age and liver cirrhosis on the pharmacokinetics of i.v. administered nitrazepam was studied in nine healthy relatively young subjects (age 22-49 years), eight healthy elderly (age 67-76 years) and 12 patients with alcoholic liver cirrhosis (age 39-66 years).

2 The elimination half-life of nitrazepam in the elderly subjects was longer than in the young ones but the difference did not reach statistical significance. Mean values (ranges) were 38 (26-64) h and 26 (19-31) h respectively.

3 The increase in elimination half-life was primarily due to an increase in volume of distribution, mean values (ranges) being 2.93 (1.96-5.33) l/kg and 1.89 (1.44-2.23) l/kg in the elderly and young groups respectively (P < 0.05).

4 The protein unbound fraction of nitrazepam tended to be higher in the elderly subjects, although the difference between the two age groups was not significant: 13.9 (11.5-15.4)% and 13.0 (11.0-15.9)% in elderly and young respectively.

5 Age had no effect on the clearance of total nitrazepam nor on the clearance of unbound nitrazepam (intrinsic clearance). Mean values (ranges) were 63 (50-87) ml/min and 489 (377-635) ml/min in the young and 64 (47-91) ml/min and 456 (348-652) ml/min in the elderly subjects respectively.

6 There were no significant differences in elimination half life, clearance and volume of distribution between patients with alcoholic liver cirrhosis and the total of healthy subjects of both age groups, mean values (ranges) being 31 (21-55) h, 59 (26-85) ml/min and 2.17 (1.57-3.22) l/kg respectively in patients and 31 (19-64) h, 63 (47-91) ml/min and 2.38 (1.44-5.33) l/kg in healthy subjects.

7 The protein unbound fraction of nitrazepam was substantially higher in the patient group: 18.9 (14.8-30.3)% as compared to 13.8 (11.0-15.9)% in the healthy subjects (P < 0.001).

8 Clearance calculated relative to unbound nitrazepam (intrinsic clearance) was significantly lower in the patient group: 320 (163-482) ml/min as compared to healthy subjects, 472 (348-652) ml/min (P < 0.001).

9 The results of this study indicate that nitrazepam action following single dose administration may be more persistent in elderly than in young people; however, steady state levels of total and unbound nitrazepam during nightly intake of the drug will not be affected by age. On the other hand, steady state levels of unbound nitrazepam in patients with liver cirrhosis will generally be about 35% higher than in healthy subjects.

Pharmacokinetics of oral brotizolam in patients with liver cirrhosis

Disposition of oral brotizolam (0.5 mg) was studied in male patients with liver cirrhosis (patients) and in other patients (control) matched for age, weight, smoking and drinking habits. Absorption of brotizolam was relatively rapid in both groups with a median peak time (range) of 1.0 (0.5-2.0) h. Peak concentrations were also similar with median values of 7.1 (3.2-10.7) ng/ml in patients and 9.4 (2.9-19.0 ng/ml) in controls. Elimination half-life was longer in patients than in controls. The median values were 12.8 (9.4-25) h and 6.9 (4.4-8.4) h respectively (P less than 0.01). In two patients hardly any drug elimination was observed, indicating severe impairment of drug metabolizing activity. The prolongation of the elimination half-life was likely to be due to a decrease in clearance (45 ml/min in patients compared with 64 ml/min in controls), and an increase in volume of distribution (0.62 l/kg and 0.39 l/kg respectively). Median values of protein unbound fraction of brotizolam were 9.2 (7.8-10.4) % in controls and 12.4 (10.4-18.9) % in patients. Clearance of unbound drug was 612 ml/min and 380 ml/min respectively.

Effect of hydrocortisone on oxidative degradation of hexobarbital and ethylmorphine

In experiments on albino rats of both sexes it has been established that hydrocortisone applied in a single dose of 50 mg/kg i.p. inhibits hexobarbital oxidase and ethylmorphine-N-demethylase and applied repeatedly in a dose of 10 mg/kg increases the activity of both enzymes. In castrated male rats the enzyme-inhibiting action of the single dose of hydrocortisone is much reduced, while its enzyme-inducing action on repeated application remains the same (the two effects are evaluated by the hexobarbital sleeping time).