Rat Kidney Slices for Evaluation of Apical Membrane Transporters in Proximal Tubular Cells.

Kidney slice has been often used as a tool reflecting basolateral transport in renal tubular epithelial cells. Recently, we reported that several important apical reabsorptive transporters such as Octn1/2, Sglt1/2, and Pept1/2 were functional in mouse kidney slices as well as transporter activities in basolateral side, which have been well accepted. Because rats are often used for preclinical pharmacodynamic and pharmacokinetic studies as well as mice, it is important to confirm applicability of rat kidney slices for evaluation of apically expressed transporters. The present study investigates usefulness of kidney slices from rats for evaluation of apical membrane transporters for efflux (multidrug resistance 1a, mdr1a) as well as influx (Octn1/2, Sglt1/2, Pept1/2). Na+-dependent uptake of ergothioneine (Octn1), carnitine (Octn2), and methyl-α-D-glucopyranoside (Sglt1/2) by rat kidney slices was observed, and the uptake was decreased by selective inhibitors. In addition, uptake of glycyl-sarcosine (Pept1/2) showed H+-dependence and was decreased by selective inhibitor. Furthermore, accumulation of mdr1a substrate azasetron was increased in the presence of zosuquidar, an mdr1a inhibitor, while strain differences existed. In conclusion, rat kidney slices should be useful for evaluation of renal drug disposition regulated by transporters in apical as well as basolateral membranes of rat renal proximal tubule cells.

Effect of endogenous multidrug resistance 1 and P-glycoprotein expression on anticancer drug resistance in colon cancer cell lines.

P-glycoprotein (P-gp, multidrug resistance 1 (MDR1)) overexpression confers multidrug resistance to cancer cells, and P-gp in cell lines transfected with MDR1 or selected with chemotherapeutics significantly affect the anticancer drug efficacy. Although human cancer cell line panels consisting of defined tumor cell lines expressing endogenous P-gp have been used to screen drugs in pharmaceutical industries, endogenous P-gp affecting in vitro anticancer drug efficacy is unclear. The impact of P-gp expression on anticancer drug efficacy was assessed by using five colon cancer cell lines expressing varying endogenous P-gp levels and by selecting from the Cancer Cell Line Encyclopedia (CCLE). mRNA expression of MDR1 was considered as a surrogate of the protein expression of its gene product, P-gp, in CL-11, C2BBe1 and RKO cells, whereas P-gp protein expression in plasma membranes or crude membrane fractions was lower than expected from mRNA expression in CW-2 and CL-40 cells. The EC50 of paclitaxel and vinorelbine decreased in the presence of a P-gp inhibitor in CW-2 and CL-11 cells that highly express P-gp. No significant alterations in EC50 were observed in the CL-40, C2BBe1 and RKO cells, which show lower P-gp expression. Accordingly, the apparent in vitro efficacy of anticancer drugs could be underestimated if the endogenous P-gp expression is higher than in CL-11 cells. The effect of P-gp needs to be carefully evaluated in cell lines that highly express P-gp, which account for 1.5% of cancer cell lines, including all cancer types, and 14.5% of colon cancer cell lines in CCLE, considering the protein expression levels in plasma membranes.

Impact of Breast Cancer Resistance Protein Expression on the In Vitro Efficacy of Anticancer Drugs in Pancreatic Cancer Cell Lines.

Breast cancer resistance protein (BCRP) overexpression confers multidrug resistance to cancer cells, and the efficacy of anticancer drugs has been reported to be significantly affected by BCRP in cell lines transfected with BCRP or selected with drugs. It is unclear whether the in vitro efficacy of anticancer drugs is affected by endogenous BCRP, although cancer cell line panels consisting of defined tumor cell lines with endogenous BCRP have been used to screen for anticancer drugs in the pharmaceutical industry. We assessed the impact of BCRP expression on efficacy of anticancer drugs using pancreatic cancer cell lines expressing varying levels of endogenous BCRP. Pancreatic cancer cell lines were selected from the Cancer Cell Line Encyclopedia (CCLE). The EC50 of 7-ethyl-10-hydroxycamptothecin (SN-38), topotecan, and mitoxantrone decreased in the presence of a BCRP inhibitor in PANC-1 and AsPC-1 cells, which exhibit high BCRP expression. However, no significant alterations in EC50 were observed in HPAF-II, SW 1990, and MIA PaCa-2, which show moderate or low BCRP expression. The shift of EC50 of anticancer drugs with and without a BCRP inhibitor increased with an increase of BCRP mRNA expression levels; however, the shift was obvious only in cells highly expressing BCRP. Thus, the in vitro efficacy of anticancer drugs on cell proliferation may be minimally affected by BCRP in most pancreatic cancer cell lines, considering that 72% of pancreatic cancer cell lines in CCLE show moderate or low BCRP expression. The effect of BCRP should be carefully evaluated in pancreatic cell lines that highly express BCRP.

Usefulness of kidney slices for functional analysis of apical reabsorptive transporters.

Kidney plays a key role in the elimination and reabsorption of drugs and nutrients, however in vitro methods to evaluate renal disposition are limited. In the present study, we investigated usefulness of isolated kidney slice, which had been used for transport only at basolateral membrane of tubular epithelial cells, for evaluation of apical membrane transporters. As transporters that are easy to discriminate between apical and basolateral transports, apical membrane specific and sodium-dependent transporters (SGLTs and OCTNs) and pH-dependent transporters (PEPTs) are selected. Uptake of ergothioneine, carnitine and methyl-α-D-glucopyranoside, which are substrates of apical Octn1, Octn2, and Sglt1/2, respectively, by mice kidney slices showed clear Na+ dependence and reduction by selective inhibitors. In addition, sodium dependence of ergothioneine uptake was negligible in the kidney slice from Octn1-gene deficient mice. Moreover, uptake of PepT1/2 substrate glycyl-sarcosine, was higher than that in the presence of glycyl-leucine, a non-specific Pept inhibitor. The K m and IC 50 values for substrates and inhibitors of each transporter were mostly comparable to those obtained in transporter-transfected cells. In conclusion, it was demonstrated that kidney slices are promising tool to study transporters expressed at the apical membranes as well as basolateral membranes of kidney tubular epithelial cells.

Impact of Experimental Conditions on the Evaluation of Interactions between Multidrug and Toxin Extrusion Proteins and Candidate Drugs.

Multidrug and toxin extrusion transporters (MATEs) have a determining influence on the pharmacokinetic profiles of many drugs and are involved in several clinical drug-drug interactions (DDIs). Cellular uptake assays with recombinant cells expressing human MATE1 or MATE2-K are widely used to investigate MATE-mediated transport for DDI assessment; however, the experimental conditions and used test substrates vary among laboratories. We therefore initially examined the impact of three assay conditions that have been applied for MATE substrate and inhibitor profiling in the literature. One of the tested conditions resulted in significantly higher uptake rates of the three test substrates, [(14)C]metformin, [(3)H]thiamine, and [(3)H]1-methyl-4-phenylpyridinium (MPP(+)), but IC50 values of four tested MATE inhibitors varied only slightly among the three conditions (<2.5-fold difference). Subsequently, we investigated the uptake characteristics of the five MATE substrates: [(14)C]metformin, [(3)H]thiamine, [(3)H]MPP(+), [(3)H]estrone-3-sulfate (E3S), and rhodamine 123, as well as the impact of the used test substrate on the inhibition profiles of 10 MATE inhibitors at one selected assay condition. [(3)H]E3S showed atypical uptake characteristics compared with those observed with the other four substrates. IC50 values of the tested inhibitors were in a similar range (<4-fold difference) when [(14)C]metformin, [(3)H]thiamine, [(3)H]MPP(+), or [(3)H]E3S were used as substrates but were considerably higher with rhodamine 123 (9.8-fold and 4.1-fold differences compared with [(14)C]metformin with MATE1 and MATE2-K, respectively). This study demonstrated for the first time that the impact of assay conditions on IC50 determination is negligible, that kinetic characteristics differ among used test substrates, and that substrate-dependent inhibition exists for MATE1 and MATE2-K, giving valuable insight into the assessment of clinically relevant MATE-mediated DDIs in vitro.

CSAHi study: Validation of multi-electrode array systems (MEA60/2100) for prediction of drug-induced proarrhythmia using human iPS cell-derived cardiomyocytes -assessment of inter-facility and cells lot-to-lot-variability.

In vitro screening of hERG channels are recommended under ICH S7B guidelines to predict drug-induced QT prolongation and Torsade de Pointes (TdP), whereas proarrhythmia is known to be evoked by blockage of other ion channels involved in cardiac contraction and compensation mechanisms. A consortium for drug safety assessment using human iPS cells-derived cardiomyocytes (hiPS-CMs), CSAHi, has been organized to establish a novel in vitro test system that would enable better prediction of drug-induced proarrhythmia and QT prolongation. Here we report the inter-facility and cells lot-to-lot variability evaluated with FPDc (corrected field potential duration), FPDc10 (10% FPDc change concentration), beat rate and incidence of arrhythmia-like waveform or arrest on hiPS-CMs in a multi-electrode array system. Arrhythmia-like waveforms were evident for all test compounds, other than chromanol 293B, that evoked FPDc prolongation in this system and are reported to induce TdP in clinical practice. There was no apparent cells lot-to-lot variability, while inter-facility variabilities were limited within ranges from 3.9- to 20-folds for FPDc10 and about 10-folds for the minimum concentration inducing arrhythmia-like waveform or arrests. In conclusion, the new assay model reported here would enable accurate prediction of a drug potential for proarrhythmia.

CSAHi study: Evaluation of multi-electrode array in combination with human iPS cell-derived cardiomyocytes to predict drug-induced QT prolongation and arrhythmia--effects of 7 reference compounds at 10 facilities.

INTRODUCTION: Drug-induced QT prolongation is a major safety issue during drug development because it may lead to lethal ventricular arrhythmias. In this study, we evaluated the utility of multi-electrode arrays (MEA) with human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes (hiPS-CMs) to predict drug-induced QT prolongation and arrhythmia. METHODS: Ten facilities evaluated the effects of 7 reference drugs (E-4031, moxifloxacin, flecainide, terfenadine, chromanol 293B, verapamil, and aspirin) using a MED64 MEA system with commercially available hiPS-CMs. Field potential duration (FPD), beat rate, FPD corrected by Fridericia's formula (FPDc), concentration inducing FPDc prolongation by 10% (FPDc10), and incidence of arrhythmia-like waveform were evaluated. RESULTS: The inter-facility variability of absolute values before drug application was similar to the intra-facility variability for FPD, beat rate, and FPDc. The inter-facility variability of FPDc10 for 5 reference drugs ranged from 1.8- to 5.8-fold. At all 10 facilities, E-4031, moxifloxacin, and flecainide prolonged FPDc and induced arrhythmia-like waveforms at concentrations 1.8- to 6.1-fold higher than their FPDc10. Terfenadine prolonged FPDc and induced beating arrest at 8.0 times the FPDc10. The average FPDc10 values for E-4031, moxifloxacin, and terfenadine were comparable to reported plasma concentrations that caused QT prolongation or Torsade de Pointes in humans. Chromanol 293B, a IKs blocker, also prolonged FPDc but did not induce arrhythmia-like waveforms, even at 7.4 times the FPDc10. In contrast, verapamil shortened FPDc and aspirin did not affect FPDc or FP waveforms. DISCUSSION: MEA with hiPS-CMs can be a generalizable method for accurately predicting both QT prolongation and arrhythmogenic liability in humans.

Cigarette smoke extract induces CYP2B6 through constitutive androstane receptor in hepatocytes.

Smoking induces a wide range of drug-metabolizing enzymes. Among them, CYP2B6 as well as CYP1A2 is well known to be up-regulated in smokers. Although the induction of CYP1A2 is mediated by the aryl hydrocarbon receptor, the molecular mechanisms of CYP2B6 induction by smoking remain to be fully elucidated. In this study, by preparing cigarette smoke extract (CSE), we addressed the possibility that human constitutive androstane receptor (hCAR) is involved in smoking-mediated induction of CYP2B6. In HepG2 cells, CSE induced CYP1A2 but not CYP2B6, suggesting that CYP2B6 expression is differentially regulated from CYP1A2. Compared with liver in vivo, hCAR expression is dramatically reduced in cultured hepatocytes, such as HepG2. Therefore, to reconstitute hCAR signaling pathways in vitro, we generated adenovirus vector expressing hCAR. Real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction analyses revealed that the adenoviral transfection of hCAR resulted in the up-regulation of CYP2B6 mRNA, even in the absence of CSE. It is interesting to note that CSE stimulation augmented hCAR-mediated induction of CYP2B6. In contrast, the expression of CYP2B6 was not enhanced by adenovirus vector expressing ß-galactosidase, a control vector, either in the presence or absence of CSE. In summary, hCAR mediated the CYP2B6 induction by CSE in Hep2G cells. These data suggest that smoking up-regulates CYP2B6 through hCAR in vivo.