Introduction to in vitro estimation of metabolic stability and drug interactions of new chemical entities in drug discovery and development.

Determination of metabolic properties of a new chemical entity (NCE) is one of the most important steps during the drug discovery and development process. Nowadays, in vitro methods are used for early estimation and prediction of in vivo metabolism of NCEs. Using in vitro methods, it is possible to determine the metabolic stability of NCEs as well as the risk for drug-drug interactions (DDIs) related to inhibition and induction of drug metabolic enzymes. Metabolic stability is defined as the susceptibility of a chemical compound to biotransformation, and is expressed as in vitro half-life (t(1/2)) and intrinsic clearance (CL(int)). Based on these values, in vivo pharmacokinetic parameters such as bioavailability and in vivo half-life can be calculated. The drug metabolic enzymes possess broad substrate specificity and can metabolize multiple compounds. Therefore, the risk for metabolism-based DDIs is always a potential problem during the drug development process. For this reason, inhibition and induction in vitro screens are used early, before selection of a candidate drug (CD), to estimate the risk for clinically significant DDIs. At present, most pharmaceutical companies perform in vitro drug metabolism studies together with in silico prediction software and automated high-throughput screens (HTS). Available data suggest that in vitro methods are useful tools for identification and elimination of NCEs with unappreciated metabolic properties. However, the quantitative output of the methods has to be improved. The aim of this review is to highlight the practical and theoretical basis of the in vitro metabolic methods and the recent progress in the development of these assays.

Toxicological characterization of a novel in vivo benzo[a]pyrene metabolite, 7-oxo-benz[d]anthracene-3,4-dicarboxylic acid anhydride.

Recently, we described a new in vivo pathway in the metabolism of benzo[a]pyrene (BP) that involves an opening of the aromatic ring system. One of the products of this pathway, isolated from rat urine, was the anhydride of 7-oxo-benz[d]anthracene-3,4-dicarboxylic acid (ABADA). We have now investigated the effect of ABADA on several cellular targets, known to be important in tumor formation. ABADA was as efficient as BP-7,8-diol-9,10-epoxide in inducing direct strand breaks but not alkali labile sites in DNA in HT-29 cells and exhibited weak mutagenic activity in Salmonella typhimurium strain TA 102. The cytotoxicity of ABADA to HCT 116 cells appeared to be due to apoptosis, as caspase-3 activity and poly-ADP-ribose polymerase (PARP) cleavage was observed. COX-2 promoter activity was induced by ABADA in HCT 116 cells. In conclusion, this novel metabolic pathway may also be contributing to the carcinogenicity of BP.

Catalytic activities of human alpha class glutathione transferases toward carcinogenic dibenzo[a,l]pyrene diol epoxides.

In this study, human glutathione transferases (GSTs) of alpha class have been assayed with the ultimate carcinogenic (-)-anti- and (+)-syn-diol epoxides (DEs) derived from the nonplanar dibenzo[a,l]pyrene (DBPDE) and the (+)-anti-diol epoxide of the planar benzo[a]pyrene [(+)-anti-BPDE] in the presence of glutathione (GSH). In all DEs, the benzylic oxirane carbon reacting with GSH, possess R-absolute configuration. GSTA1-1 demonstrated activity with all DEs tested whereas A2-2 and A3-3 only were active with the DBPDE enantiomers. With GSTA4-4, no detectable activity was observed. GSTA1-1 was found to be the most efficient enzyme and demonstrated a catalytic efficiency (k(cat)/K(m)) of 464 mM(-)(1) s(-)(1) with (+)-syn-DBPDE. This activity was about 7-fold higher than that observed with (-)-anti-DBPDE and more than 65-fold higher than previously observed with less complex fjord-region DEs. GSTA3-3 also demonstrated high k(cat)/K(m) with the DEs of DBP and a high preference for the (+)-syn-DBPDE enantiomer [190 vs 16.2 mM(-)(1) s(-)(1) for (-)-anti-DBPDE]. Lowest k(cat)/K(m) value of the active enzymes was observed with GSTA2-2. In this case, 30.4 mM(-)(1) s(-)(1) was estimated for (+)-syn-DBPDE and 3.4 mM(-)(1) s(-)(1) with (-)-anti-DBPDE. Comparing the activity of the alpha class GSTs with (-)-anti-DBPDE and (+)-anti-BPDE revealed that GSTA1-1 was considerable more active with the former substrate (about 25-fold). Molecular modeling studies showed that the H-site of GSTA1-1 is deeper and wider than that of GSTA4-4. This is mainly due to the changes of Ser212-->Tyr212 and Ala216-->Val216, which cause a shallower active site, which cannot accommodate large substrates such as DBPDE. The higher activity of GSTA1-1 with (+)-syn-DBPDE relative to (-)-anti-DBPDE is explained by the formation of more favorable interactions between the substrate and the enzyme-GSH complex. The presence of GSTA1-1 in significant amounts in human lung, a primary target tissue for PAH carcinogenesis, may be an important factor for the protection against the harmful action of this type of potent carcinogenic intermediates.

Glutathione conjugation and DNA adduct formation of dibenzo[a,l]pyrene and benzo[a]pyrene diol epoxides in V79 cells stably expressing different human glutathione transferases.

Mammalian V79 cells stably expressing human glutathione transferase (GST) A1-1, M1-1, and P1-1 (the allelic variant with Val105 and Ala114) have been constructed and characterized. The cells have been used to study the capacity of individual GST isoenzymes in conjunction with GSH to detoxify diol epoxides from dibenzo[a,l]pyrene (DBPDE), the most carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) identified so far, and diol epoxides from benzo[a]pyrene (BPDE). The relationship between GSH-conjugation and DNA adduct-formation has been investigated as well as factors governing the accessibility of lipophilic diol epoxide substrates for the soluble GSTs in the cells. Relative to control cells, those expressing GSTA1-1 showed the highest rate (about 50-fold increase) to perform GSH-conjugation of (-)-anti-DBPDE (R-absolute configuration at the benzylic oxirane carbon in the fjord-region) followed by GSTM1-1 (25-fold increase) and GSTP1-1 (10-fold increase). GSTA1-1 was found to be strongly inhibited when expressed in cells (10% of fully functional protein). Taking this factor into account, the rates of conjugation found in the cells fairly well reflected the order of catalytic efficiencies (k(cat)/K(m)) obtained with the pure enzymes. Increased GSH conjugation of (-)-anti-DBPDE was associated with a reduction in DNA adduct formation. GSTA1-1 inhibited the formation of adducts more than 6-fold and GSTM1-1 and GSTP1-1 about 2-fold. With (+)-anti-BPDE, GSTP1-1-expressing cells demonstrated a substantially higher rate of GSH-conjugate formation than cells with GSTA1-1 and GSTM1-1 cells (33- and 10-fold increase, respectively). Relative to control cells, GSTM1-1 was found to inhibit DNA adduct formation of (+)-anti-BPDE most effectively followed by GSTP1-1 and GSTA1-1 (12-, 4-, and 3-fold, respectively). Values of k(cat)/K(m) and estimated oil/water partition coefficients of DBPDE and BPDE were used to calculate the concentration of free diol epoxides in solution and expected rates of GSH conjugate formation in cells, and these theoretical results were compared with the observed ones. With the highly reactive (+)-anti-BPDE, 1-2% of the expected activity was observed, whereas the corresponding values for the less reactive (-)-anti-DBPDE were up to 13%. The most obvious explanations for the low observed rate with (+)-anti-BPDE are rapid and competing reactions such as hydrolysis and/or more unspecific chemical and physical reactions with cellular constituents (proteins, lipids, nucleic acids, etc.). In addition, the difference between the theoretical and observed rates may also reflect participation of factors such as macromolecular crowding and reduced rates of diffusion, factors expected to further restrict the accessibility of GST and the diol epoxides in the intact cell.