Pharmacokinetics of a potential human cytomegalovirus therapeutic, a phosphorothioate oligonucleotide, after intravitreal injection in the rabbit

The disposition of ISIS 2922, a phosphorothioate oligonucleotide for treatment of cytomegalovirus associated retinitis, was evaluated in rabbits. Vitreous humor and retina samples were collected from rabbits that received a single intravitreal injection of 66 microg [14C]-labeled ISIS 2922 and were analyzed using anion exchange HPLC. Four hr postdosing, the concentration of ISIS 2922 in vitreous humor was 3.3 microM. The elimination of ISIS 2922 from the vitreous humor exhibited first-order kinetics with a t1/2 of 62 hr. By 10 days postdosing, the mean concentration of ISIS 2922 in rabbit vitreous humor had decreased to 0.17 microM, which represented 22% of the total radioactivity remaining in the vitreous. The remaining 78% coeluted on anion exchange HPLC with shorter oligonucleotides. In retina, ISIS 2922 accumulated over the first 5 days postdosing, reaching a maximum concentration of 3.5 microM, and then declined thereafter with an estimated t1/2 of 79 hr. By 10 days postdosing when only 24% of the total radioactivity in the retina was parent compound, the concentration of ISIS 2922 remained at 1.6 microM, which was 10 times higher than the concentration in the vitreous humor. Whereas the elimination of full-length ISIS 2922 and total radioactivity from the vitreous humor occurred at nearly equal rates, ISIS 2922 disappeared more rapidly than did total radioactivity from the retina, suggesting a greater role for metabolism in the clearance process from retina than the vitreous. Alternatively, the results are consistent with metabolites being cleared from the vitreous at approximately the same rate as parent compound while in the retina metabolites may be cleared more slowly. The data were analyzed with a user-defined pharmacokinetic model, which was then used to predict the potential for accumulation of ISIS 2922 during clinical dosing.

An ICAM-1 antisense oligonucleotide prevents and reverses dextran sulfate sodium-induced colitis in mice

Mice treated p.o. with 5% dextran sodium sulfate develop a mild to moderate colitis characterized by focal areas of inflammation and crypt abscesses. Immunohistological analysis of colons from dextran sodium sulfate-treated mice revealed an increased expression of intercellular adhesion molecule 1 (ICAM-1) and infiltration of lymphocyte function antigen 1-positive cells. A murine-specific antisense oligonucleotide, ISIS 3082, was used to determine the role of ICAM-1 expression in the development of colitis. Prophylactic treatment of dextran sodium sulfate-treated mice with ISIS 3082 reduced the clinical signs of colitis in a dose-dependent manner, with maximal effects occurring at a dose of 1 mg/kg/day. Reductions in ICAM-1 immunostaining and infiltrating leukocytes were observed in colons of animals treated with 1 mg/kg ISIS 3082. Scrambled control oligonucleotides failed to modify the course of the disease. The ICAM-1 oligonucleotide also diminished the clinical severity of colitis in mice with established colitis. The toxicity of ISIS 3082 was assessed in normal CD-1 mice by administering the oligonucleotide intravenously every other day for 2 weeks. At pharmacologically relevant doses of ISIS 3082 (1 and 10 mg/kg), there were no signs of toxicity with respect to body and organ weights, clinical chemistry or hematology. At a dose of oligonucleotide 20- to 100-fold greater than maximal pharmacological doses, the oligonucleotide produced an increase in liver and spleen weights; a mild chronic inflammation in liver, lung and lymph nodes; monocytosis and an elevation of serum liver transaminases. These data suggest that an antisense oligonucleotide that reduces ICAM-1 expression could be effective in the therapy of inflammatory bowel disease in humans and that such an oligonucleotide would be safe at pharmacologically relevant doses.

Pharmacokinetic properties of several novel oligonucleotide analogs in mice

Biophysical and pharmacokinetic properties of five analogs of ISIS 3082, a 20-mer phosphorothioate oligodeoxynucleotide that inhibits the expression of mouse intercellular adhesion molecule 1, were evaluated. Compared to the parent compound, ISIS 3082, the 2'-propoxy modified phosphodiester, ISIS 9044 and the 2'-propoxy phosphorothioate, ISIS 9045, had greater affinity for complementary RNA and were more lipophilic. A chimeric oligonucleotide comprised of 2'-propoxy diester wings and a phosphorothioate deoxy center (ISIS 9046) had equal affinity. It was also more lipophilic than ISIS 3082, but less so than the other 2'-propoxy modified analogs. The two analogs with 5'-lipophilic conjugates, ISIS 9047 (5'-octadecylamine) and ISIS 8005 (5'-(2'-O-hexylamino-carbonyl-oxycholesterol) were more lipophilic than ISIS 3082 (3- and 7-fold, respectively) but had similar affinity for complementary RNA. Binding of ISIS 3082 to bovine serum albumin was salt-dependent and, at physiological concentration (320 mOsmol), the dissociation constant (Kd) was 140 microM. Similarly, the 2'-propoxy phosphodiester, ISIS 9044, displayed salt-dependent bovine serum albumin binding, but not binding was measurable at physiological salt conditions. In contrast, the more lipophilic phosphorothioate analogs displayed much higher affinity to bovine serum albumin at 320 mOsmol than ISIS 3082. After bolus injection to mice, the initial volumes of distribution of the more lipophilic phosphorothioate analogs, ISIS 9045, ISIS 9047 and ISIS 8005, were less and the initial clearance from plasma was slower than ISIS 3082. The pharmacokinetics of the other analogs was similar to ISIS 3082. Distribution of ISIS 3082 into peripheral tissues was similar to that reported for other phosphorothioates with liver and kidney accumulating the highest fraction of the dose. The only modification to markedly influence distribution was the very lipophilic cholesterol conjugate (ISIS 8005), which increased substantially the fraction of the dose accumulated by the liver. Little intact drug was found in urine or feces for any analog, and the patterns of metabolites suggested that for all analogs the principal metabolic pathway was due to 3'-exonuclease activity. The metabolism of ISIS 3082 was similar to that reported for other phosphorothioates. After 2 hr, most of the radioactivity in plasma represented metabolites but, in tissues, intact ISIS 3082 was present for much longer periods of time and metabolites accumulated more slowly. The 24-hr exposure to ISIS 3082 of liver and kidney was 20.7 and 67.9 microM/hr, respectively. The rates of metabolism in plasma, liver and kidney of the two 5'-conjugates, ISIS 9047 and ISIS 8005, were similar to ISIS 3082, as was the pattern of metabolism. The rate of metabolism of ISIS 9044 (2'-propoxy phosphodiester oligonucleotide) was much more rapid in liver and plasma, but surprisingly much slower in the kidney. ISIS 9045 (full 2-propoxy phosphorothioate) was much more stable than ISIS in all tissues, the enhanced stability of ISIS 9045 resulted in increased exposure of liver and kidney to the drug, whereas the exposure of the liver to the two more lipophilic analogs, ISIS 9047 and ISIS 8005, was greater because a higher fraction of the dose was distributed to the liver. The exposure of the kidney to ISIS 9044 was also greater than that to ISIS 3082 due to the surprising stability of the drug in the kidney.

Induction of peroxisomal enzymes by a tetrazole-substituted 2-quinolinylmethoxy leukotriene D4 antagonist

The induction of hepatic peroxisomal beta-oxidation and the peroxisomal bifunctional enzyme (PBE) by the tetrazole-substituted leukotriene D4 receptor antagonist RG 7152 was evaluated in vivo following subchronic treatment in the mouse, rat, guinea pig, dog, and rhesus monkey. The ability of RG 7152 to induce this enzyme system in rat extrahepatic tissues reported to respond to peroxisome proliferators and in vitro in primary rat hepatocytes was also investigated. Western blot analysis for PBE and beta-oxidation assays revealed significant induction by RG 7152 in liver homogenates from rats and mice with a lesser effect in guinea pigs and monkeys and no effect in dogs. The degree of induction in rat liver was less than that observed in a positive control group treated with clofibrate (CF). There was slight induction of PBE in rat kidney and small intestine by CF, whereas RG 7152 elicited a minimal response in the kidney and no effect in the small intestine. In vitro, RG 7152 produced a response that was greater than that produced by diethylhexyl phthalate, approximately equivalent to that produced by clofibric acid, but less than that produced by bezafibrate. Dose-response comparison of RG 7152 with the tetrazole-substituted leukotriene D4 antagonist LY 171883 to be slightly more potent than RG 7152. Thus, RG 7152 represents a second chemical class of tetrazole-substituted leukotriene D4 antagonist that causes peroxisomal enzyme induction in rodents.

Thiobenzamide-induced hepatotoxicity: effects of substituents and route of administration on the nature and extent of liver injury

Differences in the nature and extent of hepatic injury were examined after administration of para-substituted thiobenzamides to rats. In accordance with previous studies, the extent of hepatotoxicity varied with the electron-donating ability of the substituent. There was also a good correlation between the extent of hepatic necrosis and the amount of substituted thiobenzamide sulfoxide found in the plasma after intraperitoneal dosing. The nature of the hepatic lesion, characterized as a combination of hepatic necrosis, ballooning degeneration, and biliary dysfunction, varied qualitatively with each thiobenzamide analog. When the hepatotoxicity of thiobenzamide was compared after either intraperitoneal or oral dosing, differences in the extent of hepatic necrosis, ballooning degeneration, transaminase elevation, and biliary dysfunction were observed. Intraperitoneal dosing with thiobenzamide gave less severe necrosis and more pronounced elevations in bile acids, while oral dosing led to more severe necrosis along with impaired biliary function. The route of administration was shown to dramatically affect the pharmacokinetics of thiobenzamide and thiobenzamide sulfoxide. Intraperitoneal administration of thiobenzamide gave high plasma and liver levels of both thiobenzamide and thiobenzamide sulfoxide, whereas oral administration gave slightly lower levels of the sulfoxide but much lower levels of thiobenzamide. The reason for greater hepatic necrosis after oral administration may be due to a greater ability to further metabolize the sulfoxide to a reactive metabolite in the absence of high levels of thiobenzamide.

Investigations of the potential for five beta-lactam antibiotics to elicit type II hypersensitivity reactions in rats and monkeys

Immunologic reactions are occasionally elicited in patients by various beta-lactam antibiotics (e.g., penicillins and cephalosporins). A relatively rare reaction (type II hypersensitivity) may involve antibody-mediated destruction of erythrocytes, leukocytes, and/or platelets. During the safety evaluation of several modified beta-lactam compounds (carbapenems), hemolytic anemia and/or neutropenia were observed in rhesus monkeys, and anemia, neutropenia, and thrombocytopenia in rats, after approximately 2 weeks of intravenous administration. Antiglobulin tests and other clinicopathologic findings indicated an immune basis for the cytopenias. A review of summaries of the preclinical data for numerous marketed beta-lactam antibiotics revealed that various cytopenias of unknown etiology were commonly seen in animals given high doses of these compounds. To determine whether these hematologic abnormalities were related to those produced by the above carbapenems, we investigated the potential of five widely used beta-lactam antibiotics (penicillin G, cephalothin, cefazolin, cefoperazone, and cefamandole) to elicit immune-mediated cytopenias in rhesus monkeys and Sprague-Dawley rats when given intravenously. After approximately 1 month of administration of these compounds at a dose level of 500 mg/kg/day, slight anemia occurred in several drug-treated monkeys; however, direct and indirect antiglobulin tests were negative for all animals, indicating that the anemias were not immune-mediated. In rats, no drug-induced hematologic changes were observed after 1 month of intravenous administration of 500 and 1000 mg/kg/day of each of the beta-lactams. In addition, direct antiglobulin tests were negative in rats. Therefore, it appears that the ability of certain carbapenem antibiotics to produce a high incidence of type II hypersensitivity reactions in animals is not typical of beta-lactam compounds in general.

Effects of pretreatment with inducers of hepatic mixed function oxidases on DNA repair elicited by various compounds in hepatocytes from adult and neonatal rats

Studies were conducted to assess the effects of inducers of hepatic mixed function oxidases on DNA repair responses to 13 different genotoxic agents in hepatocytes from adult male mice. Phenobarbital pretreatment increased DNA repair elicited by diethylnitrosamine but had no effect on responses to the other compounds. Pretreatment with p,p'-dichlorodiphenyltrichlorethane, 3-methyl-cholanthrene or beta-naphthoflavone induced the DNA repair responses to a variety of activation-dependent carcinogens. DNA repair responses to the direct-acting alkylating agents methyl methanesulfonate and N-methyl-N'-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine were not increased by any of the pretreatments, which indicated that the pretreatment-related enhancement of responses to the other compounds was due to induction of their metabolic activation. Taken together, the findings suggest that Aroclor, or other pretreatments, may increase the sensitivity of the hepatocyte DNA repair assay for detecting the genotoxicity of certain compounds; however, the potential benefit may be limited due to specific features of the assay. In contrast, Aroclor pretreatment did not produce any enhancement of in vivo DNA repair elicited by dimethylnitrosamine, diethylnitrosamine, o-aminoazotoluene, 2-acetylaminofluorene, 3-methylcholanthrene or aflatoxin B1, and thus does not appear to be useful for improving the sensitivity of the in vivo/in vitro assay. Whereas the amount of DNA repair produced by dimethylnitrosamine was not increased by classical inducers of liver microsomal enzymes, pretreatment with pyrazole greatly augmented in vitro and in vivo DNA repair responses to dimethylnitrosamine; responses to diethylnitrosamine were increased to a lesser degree by pyrazole pretreatment. The effects of lactational exposure to enzyme inducing agents on DNA repair in neonatal hepatocytes was also investigated.

Effects of pretreatment with pyrazole and inducers of mixed function oxidases on DNA repair elicited by dimethylnitrosamine in rat hepatocytes in vivo and in vitro

Experiments were performed to investigate the relationship between the rate of oxidative metabolism of dimethylnitrosamine (DMN) by rat liver microsomes (i.e., DMN demethylase activity, DMNd) and its genotoxicity in liver, as assessed by the in vitro and in vivo/in vitro rat hepatocyte primary culture/DNA repair (HPC/DR) assays. Pretreatment of rats with pyrazole (PYR) resulted in a 4-fold increase in DMNd and a 3-fold greater DNA repair response to in vivo administration of 5 mg DMN/kg body weight. Pretreatment with phenobarbital (PB), dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT), 3-methylcholanthrene (3-MC), beta-naphthoflavone (beta-NF) or Aroclor 1254 (ARO) produced a variable degree of inhibition of DMNd and had no significant effects on the response to DMN in the in vivo/in vitro HPC/DR assay. DNA repair elicited by DMN in vitro was decreased in hepatocytes from rats pretreated with 3-MC, while PB, DDT, beta-NF and ARO pretreatments had little effect on the response. In contrast, PYR pretreatment produced a 4.5-6.7-fold increase in the in vitro DNA repair response to DMN, and extended detection of positive responses to lower concentrations. Most of the inducers had no effect on DNA repair elicited by the direct acting alkylator, methyl methanesulfonate (MMS). Thus, the pretreatment-related changes in DMN-induced DNA repair were probably due to alterations in DMNd rather than to effects on the DNA repair capacity of the hepatocytes.

Aroclor 1254 pretreatment effects on DNA repair in rat hepatocytes elicited by in vivo or in vitro exposure to various chemicals

Inducers of liver mixed function oxidase (MFO) activities have profound effects on the genotoxicity of substances that undergo metabolic activation by the MFO system. The polychlorinated biphenyl mixture Aroclor 1254 is a broad-spectrum inducer of liver MFO activities that has been employed as a pretreatment to augment the metabolic activation capabilities of rat liver fractions used in a number of short-term tests for genotoxicity, including the Ames Salmonella/bacterial mutagenicity assay. The present study was designed to characterize the effects of Aroclor pretreatment of rats on the DNA repair responses elicited by various chemicals in the in vitro hepatocyte primary culture/DNA repair (HPC/DR) assay as well as the in vivo/in vitro HPC/DR assay. The amount of DNA repair produced in vitro by diethylnitrosamine (DEN), benzo(a)pyrene (B(a)P), 3-methylcholanthrene (3-MC), 2-acetylaminofluorene (2-AAF), o-aminoazotoluene (o-AT), and aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) was significantly greater in hepatocytes derived from Aroclor-pretreated rats than in control rat hepatocytes; in vitro responses to dimethylnitrosamine (DMN), 7,12-dimethylbenzanthracene (DMBA), benzidine (BZ), and 2-naphthylamine (2-NA) were not significantly affected by Aroclor pretreatment. DNA repair elicited by the direct-acting alkylating agents methyl methanesulfonate and N-methyl-N'-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine was also not increased by Aroclor pretreatment, which indicated that Aroclor does not exert a general stimulatory effect on the hepatocellular DNA repair capacity. Therefore, the pretreatment-related potentiation of DNA repair observed for 6 out of 12 compounds tested in vitro was considered to be due to enhanced metabolic activation. These results suggested that pretreatment with Aroclor may increase the sensitivity of the in vitro HPC/DR assay to certain compounds. In contrast, Aroclor pretreatment had little effect on the amount of hepatocellular DNA repair elicited by in vivo administration of DMN, DEN, o-AT, 2-AAF, 3-MC, or AFB1, which indicated that this pretreatment regimen may have little utility for improving the sensitivity of the in vivo/in vitro HPC/DR assay.

Testing of 24 food, drug, cosmetic, and fabric dyes in the in vitro and the in vivo/in vitro rat hepatocyte primary culture/DNA repair assays

Twenty-four dyes currently or previously used in the food, drug, cosmetic, and textile industries were tested in the in vitro rat hepatocyte primary culture/DNA repair (HPC/DR) assay and, to a limited extent, in the in vivo/in vitro HPC/DR assay. The positive control, Solvent Yellow 3 (o-aminoazotoluene), and five other dyes (4-dimethylaminobenzeneazo-1-naphthalene, 4-dimethylaminobenzeneazo-2-naphthalene, Direct Blue 53, Acid Blue 9, and 4-dimethylaminostilbene) induced DNA repair in rat hepatocytes both in vitro and in vivo, while 13 of the dyes (Food Red 1, Food Red 5, Food Orange 4, Food Red 7, Acid Red 14, Acid Red 27, Pigment Red 53, Acid Yellow 23, Food Black 1, Food Green 3, Acid Red 51, Acid Blue 74, and Natural Red 4) did not produce any detectable DNA repair in either the in vitro or in vivo/in vitro assays. Direct Blue 14 had weak activity in vitro but none was detected in vivo. In contrast, Solvent Yellow 5 was not active in vitro, but produced a weak positive response in vivo. Negative responses were also obtained for Solvent Yellow 14 and Acid Green 5 in the in vitro assay, whereas the responses produced by these dyes in the in vivo/in vitro assay were judged to be equivocal. An equivocal response was also obtained for Direct Red 28 in the in vivo/in vitro assay as well as in the in vitro assay. These findings provide information about the potential genotoxicity of a number of dyes for which previous genotoxicity data has been inconsistent or inadequate. For some dyes (eg, Solvent Yellow 5), discrepancies between the results obtained in the in vitro and in vivo/in vitro assays may implicate a role for intestinal microflora in their metabolic activation.