Characterization of cytochrome P450s mediating ipriflavone metabolism in human liver microsomes

Identification of the Metabolic Enzyme Involved Morusin Metabolism and Characterization of Its Metabolites by Ultraperformance Liquid Chromatography Quadrupole Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometry (UPLC/Q-TOF-MS/MS)

Morusin, the important active component of a traditional Chinese medicine, Morus alba L., has been shown to exhibit many vital pharmacological activities. In this study, six recombinant CYP450 supersomes and liver microsomes were used to perform metabolic studies. Chemical inhibition studies and screening assays with recombinant human cytochrome P450s were also used to characterize the CYP450 isoforms involved in morusin metabolism. The morusin metabolites identified varied greatly among different species. Eight metabolites of morusin were detected in the liver microsomes from pigs (PLMs), rats (RLMs), and monkeys (MLMs) by LC-MS/MS and six metabolites were detected in the liver microsomes from humans (HLMs), rabbits (RAMs), and dogs (DLMs). Four metabolites (M₁, M₂, M₅, and M₇) were found in all species and hydroxylation was the major metabolic transformation. CYP1A2, CYP2C9, CYP2D6, CYP2E1, CYP3A4, and CYP2C19 contributed differently to the metabolism of morusin. Compared to other CYP450 isoforms, CYP3A4 played the most significant role in the metabolism of morusin in human liver microsomes. These results are significant to better understand the metabolic behaviors of morusin among various species.

Role of Cytochrome P450 2C8 in Drug Metabolism and Interactions

During the last 10-15 years, cytochrome P450 (CYP) 2C8 has emerged as an important drug-metabolizing enzyme. CYP2C8 is highly expressed in human liver and is known to metabolize more than 100 drugs. CYP2C8 substrate drugs include amodiaquine, cerivastatin, dasabuvir, enzalutamide, imatinib, loperamide, montelukast, paclitaxel, pioglitazone, repaglinide, and rosiglitazone, and the number is increasing. Similarly, many drugs have been identified as CYP2C8 inhibitors or inducers. In vivo, already a small dose of gemfibrozil, i.e., 10% of its therapeutic dose, is a strong, irreversible inhibitor of CYP2C8. Interestingly, recent findings indicate that the acyl-β-glucuronides of gemfibrozil and clopidogrel cause metabolism-dependent inactivation of CYP2C8, leading to a strong potential for drug interactions. Also several other glucuronide metabolites interact with CYP2C8 as substrates or inhibitors, suggesting that an interplay between CYP2C8 and glucuronides is common. Lack of fully selective and safe probe substrates, inhibitors, and inducers challenges execution and interpretation of drug-drug interaction studies in humans. Apart from drug-drug interactions, some CYP2C8 genetic variants are associated with altered CYP2C8 activity and exhibit significant interethnic frequency differences. Herein, we review the current knowledge on substrates, inhibitors, inducers, and pharmacogenetics of CYP2C8, as well as its role in clinically relevant drug interactions. In addition, implications for selection of CYP2C8 marker and perpetrator drugs to investigate CYP2C8-mediated drug metabolism and interactions in preclinical and clinical studies are discussed.

Antimutagenic activity of ipriflavone against the DNA-damage induced by cyclophosphamide in mice

In the present study we evaluated the potential of ipriflavone against the cytotoxic and mutagenic effects induced by cyclophosphamide chemotherapeutic agent in bone marrow cells of mice, using the micronucleus assay in vivo on cells of bone marrow. The study was performed following three protocols: pre-treatment, simultaneous treatment and post treatment. The results demonstrated that ipriflavone has a protective effect against mutagenicity induced by cyclophosphamide in the pre-treatment and post-treatment and against the cytotoxicity in all treatments. There was variation between the genders in some of the experimental groups. To evaluate their possible mechanisms of action, it was performed the DPPH assay, which showed no ability to donate hydrogens, suggesting that it acts through other mechanisms. Due to its ability to prevent chromosomal damage, ipriflavone is likely to open an interest field concerning its possible the use in clinical applications.

Effects of Radix Astragali and Radix Rehmanniae, the components of an anti-diabetic foot ulcer herbal formula, on metabolism of model CYP1A2, CYP2C9, CYP2D6, CYP2E1 and CYP3A4 probe substrates in pooled human liver microsomes and specific CYP isoforms

The present study investigated the effects of Radix Astragali (RA) and Radix Rehmanniae (RR), the major components of an anti-diabetic foot ulcer herbal formula (NF3), on the metabolism of model probe substrates of human CYP isoforms, CYP1A2, CYP2C9, CYP2D6, CYP2E1 and CYP3A4, which are important in the metabolism of a variety of xenobiotics. The effects of RA or RR on human CYP1A2 (phenacetin O-deethylase), CYP2C9 (tolbutamide 4-hydroxylase), CYP2D6 (dextromethorphan O-demethylase), CYP2E1 (chlorzoxazone 6-hydroxylase) and CYP3A4 (testosterone 6β-hydroxylase) activities were investigated using pooled human liver microsomes. NF3 competitively inhibited activities of CYP2C9 (IC(50)=0.98mg/ml) and CYP3A4 (IC(50)=0.76mg/ml), with K(i) of 0.67 and 1.0mg/ml, respectively. With specific human CYP2C9 and CYP3A4 isoforms, NF3 competitively inhibited activities of CYP2C9 (IC(50)=0.86mg/ml) and CYP3A4 (IC(50)=0.88mg/ml), with K(i) of 0.57 and 1.6mg/ml, respectively. Studies on RA or RR individually showed that RR was more important in the metabolic interaction with the model CYP probe substrates. RR dose-dependently inhibited the testosterone 6β-hydroxylation (K(i)=0.33mg/ml) while RA showed only minimal metabolic interaction potential with the model CYP probe substrates studied. This study showed that RR and the NF3 formula are metabolized mainly by CYP2C9 and/or CYP3A4, but weakly by CYP1A2, CYP2D6 and CYP2E1. The relatively high K(i) values of NF3 (for CYP2C9 and CYP3A4 metabolism) and RR (for CYP3A4 metabolism) would suggest a low potential for NF3 to cause herb-drug interaction involving these CYP isoforms.

Identification of cytochrome P450 2D6 and 2C9 substrates and inhibitors by QSAR analysis

This paper presents four new QSAR models for CYP2C9 and CYP2D6 substrate recognition and inhibitor identification based on human clinical data. The models were used to screen a large data set of environmental chemicals for CYP activity, and to analyze the frequency of CYP activity among these compounds. A large fraction of these chemicals were found to be CYP active, and thus potentially capable of affecting human physiology. 20% of the compounds within applicability domain of the models were predicted to be CYP2C9 substrates, and 17% to be inhibitors. The corresponding numbers for CYP2D6 were 9% and 21%. Where the majority of CYP2C9 active compounds were predicted to be both a substrate and an inhibitor at the same time, the CYP2D6 active compounds were primarily predicted to be only inhibitors. It was demonstrated that the models could identify compound classes with a high occurrence of specific CYP activity. An overrepresentation was seen for poly-aromatic hydrocarbons (group of procarcinogens) among CYP2C9 active and mutagenic compounds compared to CYP2C9 inactive and mutagenic compounds. The mutagenicity was predicted with a QSAR model based on Ames in vitro test data.

Determination of ipriflavone in human plasma by LC-MS and its application in a pharmacokinetic study

A sensitive liquid chromatography-mass spectrometric method was developed for the quantification of ipriflavone in human plasma. The method utilized liquid-liquid extraction of plasma with ethyl acetate. A gradient elution was performed on a Hedera ODS-2 column (150×2.1 mm i.d., 5 µm), using a mobile phase consisting of 0.1% formic acid solution and methanol at a flow rate of 0.5 mL/min. The single quadrupole mass spectrometer was operated in selected-ion monitoring mode via positive electrospray ionization interface detecting m/z 239.1 and 285.1 for ipriflavone and diazepam (the internal standard), respectively. To improve the selectivity and sensitivity, the fragment ion m/z 239.1, which was produced by in-source collision-induced dissociation, was chosen as the quantitative ion for ipriflavone. The method was fully validated and applied to a pharmacokinetic study of ipriflavone. After oral administration of a single 200 mg ipriflavone tablet, the C(max,) AUC(0-72 h) , t(1/2) and T(max) were 6.3±6.3 ng/mL, 80.0±69.1 µg h/L, 23.0±8.6 h and 3.4±2.1 h, respectively.

Trainable structure-activity relationship model for virtual screening of CYP3A4 inhibition

A new structure-activity relationship model predicting the probability for a compound to inhibit human cytochrome P450 3A4 has been developed using data for >800 compounds from various literature sources and tested on PubChem screening data. Novel GALAS (Global, Adjusted Locally According to Similarity) modeling methodology has been used, which is a combination of baseline global QSAR model and local similarity based corrections. GALAS modeling method allows forecasting the reliability of prediction thus defining the model applicability domain. For compounds within this domain the statistical results of the final model approach the data consistency between experimental data from literature and PubChem datasets with the overall accuracy of 89%. However, the original model is applicable only for less than a half of PubChem database. Since the similarity correction procedure of GALAS modeling method allows straightforward model training, the possibility to expand the applicability domain has been investigated. Experimental data from PubChem dataset served as an example of in-house high-throughput screening data. The model successfully adapted itself to both data classified using the same and different IC₅₀ threshold compared with the training set. In addition, adjustment of the CYP3A4 inhibition model to compounds with a novel chemical scaffold has been demonstrated. The reported GALAS model is proposed as a useful tool for virtual screening of compounds for possible drug-drug interactions even prior to the actual synthesis.