Pharmacogenetics of antiretroviral agents

Pharmacogenomics in Papua New Guineans: unique profiles and implications for enhancing drug efficacy while improving drug safety

Papua New Guinea (PNG) can be roughly divided into highland, coastal and island peoples with significant mitochondrial DNA differentiation reflecting early and recent distinct migrations from Africa and East Asia, respectively. Infectious diseases such as tuberculosis, malaria and HIV severely impact on the health of its peoples for which drug therapy is the major treatment and pharmacogenetics has clinical relevance for many of these drugs. Although there is generally little information about known single nucleotide polymorphisms in the population, in some instances, their frequencies have been shown to be higher than anywhere worldwide. For example, CYP2B6*6 is over 50%, and CYP2C19*2 and *3 are over 40 and 25%, respectively. Conversely, CYP2A6*9, 2B6*2, *3, *4 and *18, and 2C8*3 appear to be much lower than in Whites. CYP2D6 known variants are unclear, and for phase II enzymes, only UGT2B7 and UGT1A9 data are available, with variant frequencies either slightly lower than or similar to Whites. Although almost all PNG people tested are rapid acetylators, but which variant(s) define this phenotype is not known. For HLA-B*13:01, HLA-B*35:05 and HLA-C*04:01, the frequencies show some regioselectivity, but the clinical implications with respect to adverse drug reactions are not known. There are minimal phenotype data for the CYPs and nothing is known about drug transporter or receptor genetics. Determination of genetic variants that are rare in Whites or Asians but common in PNG people is a topic of both scientific and clinical importance, and further research needs to be carried out. Optimizing the safety and efficacy of infectious disease drug therapy through pharmacogenetic studies that have translation potential is a priority.

Population pharmacokinetic/pharmacogenetic model of lopinavir/ritonavir in HIV-infected patients

AIM

This study aims to develop a population pharmacokinetic/pharmacogenetic model for lopinavir/ritonavir (LPV/r) in European HIV-infected patients.

MATERIALS & METHODS

A total of 693 LPV/r plasma concentrations were assessed and 15 single-nucleotide polymorphisms were genotyped. The population pharmacokinetic/pharmacogenetic model was created using a nonlinear mixed-effect approach (NONMEM^® v.7.2.0., ICON Development Solutions, Dublin, Ireland).

RESULTS

Covariates significantly related to LPV/r apparent clearance (CL/F) were ritonavir trough concentration (RTC), BMI, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) and certain single-nucleotide polymorphisms in genes encoding for metabolizing enzymes, which are representable as follows: CL/F = (0.216BMI + 0.0125HDL-C) × 0.713^RTC × 1.26^{rs28371764[C/T]} × 0.528^{rs6945984[C/C]} × 0.302 ^{CYP3A4[1461insA/del]} Conclusion: The LPV/r standard dose appears to be appropriate for the rs28371764[C/T] genotype. However, lower doses should be recommended for the rs6945984[C/C] and CYP3A4[1461insA/del] genotypes and even for those patients without any of these variants, as the standard dose seems to be higher than that which is required in order to achieve therapeutic levels.

Toxicogenetics of lopinavir/ritonavir in HIV-infected European patients

AIMS

We present a genetic association study in 106 European HIV-infected individuals aimed at identifying and confirming polymorphisms that have a significant influence on toxicity derived from treatment with lopinavir/ritonavir (LPV/r).

PATIENTS & METHODS

Genotyping was performed by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization-time of flight and KASPar^® (KBiosciences, Hoddesdon, UK); LPV/r plasma concentrations were quantified using HPLC with an UV detection system and the pharmacokinetic parameters were estimated using Bayesian algorithms. Genetic association analysis was performed with PASW Statistics 18 (SPSS Inc., IL, USA) and R for Windows (Microsoft, WA, USA).

RESULTS

Suggestive relationships have been established between lipid plasma levels and total bilirubin and SNPs in CETP, MCP1, ABCC2, LEP and SLCO1B3 genes and between diarrhea and SNPs in IL6 gene.

CONCLUSION

Replication analysis should confirm the novel results obtained in this study prior to its application in the clinical practice to achieve a safer LPV/r-based combined antiretroviral therapy.

Recognition and management of significant drug interactions in HIV patients: challenges in using available data to guide therapy

Combination antiretroviral therapy (cART) has improved survival rates in HIV-infected patients; however, patients now experience comorbidities that require pharmacological intervention, thereby increasing the risk of drug-drug interactions (DDIs). HIV protease inhibitors (PIs), non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NNRTIs), and the CCR5 antagonist maraviroc are primarily metabolized via the cytochrome P450 (CYP) system and are prone to pharmacokinetic interactions.(1,2) This article addresses some key challenges that prescribers face when using available drug interaction-data resources in making day-to-day clinical decisions.

Epidemiology of antiretroviral multiclass resistance

Given the recent evolution of therapeutic trends, the frequency and determinants of multiclass-resistant HIV infection in the modern combination highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) era are less well understood. In this study, the authors characterize the epidemiology of antiretroviral multiclass resistance among HAART-naïve patients enrolled in a province-wide HAART distribution program in British Columbia, Canada. HAART and resistance testing are free to eligible individuals in British Columbia. This study was based on patients who initiated naïve on HAART and were followed during January 1, 2000-June 30, 2007. Explanatory logistic and survival models were built to identify those factors most influential in the emergence of multiclass resistance. Among the 1,820 individuals in our study, 833 (46%) were tested for antiretroviral resistance at least once during their follow-up. Multiclass resistance was observed in 142 individuals (n = 833; 17%) during a median follow-up of 14 months (interquartile range, 3-34 months) (incidence rate, 0.8 cases/1,000 person-months). The authors found that initial nonnucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor-based HAART was the main determinant of multiclass resistance. Given that these inhibitors are still widely used, priority should be given to make resistance testing and viral load monitoring a standard part of human immunodeficiency virus care to maximize the long-term efficacy and efficiency of HAART.

Impact of ATP-binding cassette transporters on human immunodeficiency virus therapy

Even though potent antiretrovirals are available against human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-1 infection, therapy fails in a significant fraction of patients. Among the most relevant reasons for treatment failure are drug toxicity and side effects, but also the development of viral resistance towards the drugs applied. Efflux by ATP-binding cassette (ABC-) transporters represents one major mechanism influencing the pharmacokinetics of antiretroviral drugs and particularly their distribution, thus modifiying the concentration within the infected cells, that is, at the site of action. Moreover, drug-drug interactions may occur at the level of these transporters and modulate their activity or expression thus influencing the efficacy and toxicity of the substrate drugs. This review summarizes current knowledge on the interaction of antiretrovirals used for HIV-1 therapy with ABC-transporters and highlights the impact of ABC-transporters for cellular resistance and therapeutic success. Moreover, the suitability of different cell models for studying the interaction of antiretrovirals with ABC-transporters is discussed.

HIV protease inhibitors are substrates for OATP1A2, OATP1B1 and OATP1B3 and lopinavir plasma concentrations are influenced by SLCO1B1 polymorphisms

OBJECTIVE

OATP1B1 and OATP1B3 are major hepatic drug transporters whilst OATP1A2 is mainly located in the brain but is also located in liver and several other organs. These transporters affect the distribution and clearance of many endobiotics and xenobiotics and have been reported to have functional single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). We have assessed the substrate specificities of these transporters for a panel of antiretrovirals and investigated the effects of SNPs within these transporters on the pharmacokinetics of lopinavir.

METHODS

SLCO1A2, SLCO1B1 and SLCO1B3 were cloned, verified and used to generate cRNA for use in the Xenopuslaevis oocyte transport system. Using the oocyte system, antiretrovirals were tested for their substrate specificities. Plasma samples (n=349) from the Liverpool therapeutic drug monitoring registry were genotyped for SNPs in SLCO1A2, SLCO1B1 and SLCO1B3 and associations between SNPs and lopinavir plasma concentrations were analysed.

RESULT

Antiretroviral protease inhibitors, but not non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors, are substrates for OATP1A2, OATP1B1 and OATP1B3. Furthermore, ritonavir was not an inhibitor of OATP1B1. The 521T>C polymorphism in SLCO1B1 was significantly associated with higher lopinavir plasma concentrations. No associations were observed with functional variants of SLCO1A2 and SLCO1B3.

CONCLUSION

These data add to our understanding of the factors that contribute to variability in plasma concentrations of protease inhibitors. Further studies are now required to confirm the association of SLCO1B1 521T>C with lopinavir plasma concentrations and to assess the influence of other polymorphisms in the SLCO family.

ABCB1 polymorphisms and the concentrations of lopinavir and ritonavir in blood, semen and saliva of HIV-infected men under antiretroviral therapy

INTRODUCTION

Lopinavir and ritonavir are frequently included in highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) regimens for HIV infection. These drugs are substrates, and may also inhibit and/or induce the P-glycoprotein (ABCB1) transporter, encoded by the polymorphic ABCB1 gene. We investigated the impact of three common exonic ABCB1 polymorphisms on the concentrations of lopinavir and ritonavir in blood, semen and saliva of HIV-infected men under stable HAART containing ritonavir-boosted lopinavir.

MATERIALS & METHODS

Blood, semen and saliva samples were collected from 113 subjects, 30-35 minutes before the scheduled morning dose of lopinavir/ritonavir, and trough drug concentrations were measured using LC/MS/MS. The 1236C>T, 2677G>T/A and 3435C>T polymorphisms were genotyped using the single base extension-termination method and ABCB1 haplotypes were statistically inferred.

RESULTS

Median (25th-75th percentile) trough concentrations (ng/ml) of lopinavir in plasma, semen and saliva were 6326 (4070-8617), 286.0 (128.4-475.5) and 72.7 (38.0-119.6), respectively. The corresponding concentrations (ng/ml) for ritonavir were 261.8 (172.2-398.6), 17.7 (9.2-27.6) and 5.3 (3.2-9.0), respectively. Univariate and multivariate regression analysis revealed no influence of ABCB1 genotypes or haplotypes on the concentrations of lopinavir and ritonavir in plasma, semen and saliva of HIV-infected men under stable HAART treatment.

CONCLUSION

The ABCB1 1236C>T, 2667G>T/A and 3435C>T genotypes and haplotypes are not predictors of lopinavir and ritonavir concentrations in blood plasma, semen or saliva of HIV-infected men under stable HAART treatment. The concentrations of lopinavir and ritonavir in saliva are not reliable predictors of the concentration of these drugs in semen.