The enzymatic basis of drug-drug interactions with systemic triazole antifungals.

Drug-drug interactions are a recurring problem in immunocompromised patients treated with triazole antifungals. While the introduction of new antifungals has expanded opportunities for lowering drug toxicity, virtually all antifungal regimens carry the risk of pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic interaction. This review presents the published data on molecular determinants (enzymes, transporters, orphan nuclear receptors) of systemic triazole pharmacokinetics in humans, including itraconazole, fluconazole, voriconazole and posaconazole. Systemic triazoles are inhibitors of cytochrome P450 (CYP) isozymes, such as CYP3A4, CYP2C9 and CYP2C19, to varying degrees. In addition, some are substrates and/or inhibitors of drug transporters such as multidrug resistance-1 gene product, P-glycoprotein, or breast cancer resistance protein. The interactions of triazole antifungals can be divided into the following categories: modifications of antifungal pharmacokinetics by other drugs, modifications of other drug pharmacokinetics by antifungals, and two-way interactions. These features are the basis of most interactions that occur during triazole therapy.

In vitro inhibition of simvastatin metabolism, a HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor in human and rat liver by bergamottin, a component of grapefruit juice.

Grapefruit juice is responsible for many drug interactions but the exact components involved in this interaction are not precisely known. Flavonoids and furocoumarin derivatives such as naringenin and bergamottin, respectively, could be involved in the inhibition of drug metabolism. The objective of this paper is to investigate in vitro the possible metabolic hepatic interaction between simvastatin (SV) and bergamottin (BG) and thus to compare its effects to those of naringenin (NRG) the aglycone form of naringin (NR) (a flavonoid present in grapefruit juice). In human and rat microsomes and in rat hepatocytes, BG was found to be a mixed type inhibitor of SV metabolism. In rat liver microsomes the K(i) value of BG (K(i)=174+/-36 microM) is higher than the K(i) value of NRG (K(i)=29+/-11 microM). However, in human liver microsomes the K(i) values are similar in BG and NRG (K(i)=34+/-5 microM and 29+/-11 microM, respectively). Moreover, it seems that there is an interspecies difference between human and rat hepatic metabolism of SV involving different isoenzymes of CYP 450. In conclusion, our study shows that BG inhibits SV metabolism. BG and NRG could therefore be applied as markers in food-drug interaction studies in order to adjust posology.