Stereoselective interactions of warfarin enantiomers with the pregnane X nuclear receptor in gene regulation of major drug-metabolizing cytochrome P450 enzymes.

BACKGROUND: Warfarin, an antagonist of vitamin K, is an oral coumarin anticoagulant widely used to control and prevent thromboembolic disorders. Warfarin is clinically available as a racemic mixture of R- and S-warfarin. The S-enantiomer has three to five times greater anticoagulation potency than its optical congener. Recently, vitamin K2 function has been proposed via the pregnane X receptor (PXR) in osteocytes. PXR acts as a xenobiotic sensor that controls expression of many genes involved in drug/xenobiotic metabolic clearance. OBJECTIVE: The aim was to examine whether enantiomers of warfarin stereoselectively interact with PXR to up-regulate main drug/xenobiotic-metabolizing enzymes of the cytochrome P450 superfamily. METHODS: Interactions of warfarin enantiomers with PXR were tested by gene reporter assays and time-resolved fluorescence resonance energy transfer technology (TR-FRET) ligand binding assay. Up-regulation of PXR-target gene mRNAs by warfarin enantiomers was studied using semi-quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) in primary human hepatocytes. RESULTS: We found that R-warfarin interacts with the PXR nuclear receptor. Consistently, R-warfarin significantly induced CYP3A4 and CYP2C9 mRNAs in cultures of primary human hepatocytes or in LS174T intestinal cells. On the other hand, S-warfarin is a less potent inducer of PXR-target genes in human hepatocytes and activates PXR only at supraphysiological concentrations. In addition, we showed that racemic 10- and 4'-hydroxywarfarins are also highly potent PXR ligands and inducers of CYP3A4 and CYP2C9 mRNA in human hepatocytes. CONCLUSION: We showed that R-warfarin can significantly up-regulate major drug-metabolizing enzymes CYP3A4 and CYP2C9 in the liver and thus may cause drug-drug interactions (DDI) with co-administered drugs. The results warrant reconsideration of racemic warfarin usage in clinics.

An evidence for regulatory cross-talk between aryl hydrocarbon receptor and glucocorticoid receptor in HepG2 cells.

Aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) and glucocorticoid receptor (GR) play crucial role in the regulation of drug metabolizing enzymes and in many essential physiological processes. Cellular signaling by these receptors shares several functional and regulatory features. Here we investigated regulatory cross-talk between these two receptors. Human hepatoma cells (HepG2) were the model of choice. We analyzed the effects of dexamethasone (DEX) and dioxin (TCDD) on i) expression of AhR and GRalpha mRNAs; ii) levels of AhR and GR proteins; iii) transcriptional activities of AhR and GR in reporter assays; iv) 7-ethoxyresorufin-O-deethylase activity (EROD). We found that both DEX and TCDD affected AhR and GR mRNAs expression, proteins levels and transcriptional activities in HepG2 cells. These effects on cellular signaling by AhR and GR comprised up-/down-regulation of gene expression and ligand-dependent protein degradation. We conclude that interactive regulatory cross-talk between GR and AhR receptors in HepG2 cells defines possible implications in physiology and drug metabolism. Future research should be focused on the investigation of AhR-GR cross-talk in various normal human cells and tissues both in vitro and in vivo.

The effect of all-trans retinoic acid and/or colchicine on expression of rexinoid and thyroid hormone nuclear receptors and their coregulators in primary rat hepatocytes.

In the present work, the effects of colchicine (COL) and/or all-trans retinoic acid (ATRA) on expression of rexinoid receptors (RXRs) (alpha, beta, gamma), thyroid hormone receptor alpha and coregulators N-CoR, SMRT and SRC-1 mRNA in primary rat hepatocytes as a model of no-proliferating cells were investigated. Treatment with these components, either alone or in combination, induced differences of the expression profiles between distinct treatment groups.

Examination of Glucocorticoid receptor alpha-mediated transcriptional regulation of P-glycoprotein, CYP3A4, and CYP2C9 genes in placental trophoblast cell lines.

The placental trophoblast at different stages of pregnancy contains some drug transporters and xenobiotic-metabolising enzymes, as well as ligand-activated nuclear receptors, which control their inducible transcriptional regulation. Glucocorticoid receptor alpha (GRalpha) is expressed in both placental syncytiotrophoblast and cytotrophoblast. GRalpha was shown to control inducible expression of several enzymes of the cytochrome P-450 family (CYP) and the drug transporter P-glycoprotein in the liver. However, GRalpha-mediated transcriptional regulation of drug transporters and CYPs has not been studied in the placental trophoblast. In this study, we examined the expression and activity of GRalpha in the transcriptional regulation of P-glycoprotein, CYP3A4, and CYP2C9 in placental trophoblast cell lines. Employing RT-PCR, Western blotting, and luciferase gene reporter assay, we detected the expression and activity of GRalpha in JEG3 and BeWo cell lines. However, we observed that only MDR1 mRNA was up-regulated after treatment of placental cells with dexamethasone. Accordingly, only the promoter of the MDR1 gene was activated by dexamethasone in gene reporter assays in placental cells and the activation was abolished by RU486, an antagonist of GRalpha. CYP3A4 and CYP2C9 promoters were activated in placental cells only after co-transfection with hepatocyte nuclear factor 4alpha (HNF4alpha), which indicates the hepatocyte-specific character of GRalpha-mediated regulation of the genes. On the other hand, coexpression of HNF4alpha had no effect on the activation of the MDR1 gene promoter, suggesting HNF4alpha-independent regulation via GRalpha. We conclude that GRalpha may be involved in the transcriptional regulation of P-glycoprotein in the placental trophoblast. We also indicate that the CYP3A4 and CYP2C9 genes are not inducible through GRalpha in placental cell lines, due to the lack of HNF4alpha expression and possibly some additional hepatocyte-specific transcriptional factors.

Silybin and dehydrosilybin inhibit cytochrome P450 1A1 catalytic activity: a study in human keratinocytes and human hepatoma cells.

The flavonolignan silybin and its derivative dehydrosilybin have been proposed as candidate UV-protective agents in skin care products. This study addressed the effect of silybin and dehydrosilybin on the activity of cytochrome P450 isoform CYP1A1 in human keratinocytes (HaCaT) and human hepatoma cells (HepG2). CYP1A1 catalytic activity was assessed as O-deethylation of 7-ethoxyresorufin using fluorescence detection. Silybin and dehydrosylibin inhibited basal and dioxin-inducible CYP1A1 catalytic activity in both cell lines used. The inhibitory effect of tested compounds was more pronounced in HaCaT cells than in HepG2 cells, and dehydrosilybin was a much stronger inhibitor than silybin. Analyses on CYP1A1 human recombinant protein yielded IC(50) values of 22.9 +/- 4.7 micromol/L and 0.43 +/- 0.04 micromol/L for silybin and dehydrosilybin, respectively. Since CYP1A enzymes are some of the most prominent actors in the process of chemically induced carcinogenesis, the inhibitory activity of the flavonolignans tested against CYP1A1 favors their use as cytoprotective agents in terms of skin and hepatic metabolism. In addition, the capability of dehydrosilybin to inhibit CYP1A1 in submicromolar concentrations makes this compound a potential biological probe in CYP1A1 analyses.

Investigation of sanguinarine and chelerythrine effects on CYP1A1 expression and activity in human hepatoma cells.

Quaternary benzo[c]phenanthridine alkaloids (QBA) sanguinarine and chelerythrine exhibit a wide spectrum of biological activities whence they are used in dental care products. Recent studies indicated that cytochrome P450 CYP1A attenuates sanguinarine toxicity both in vivo [Williams, M.K., Dalvi, S., Dalvi, R.R., 2000. Influence of 3-methylcholanthrene pretreatment on sanguinarine toxicity in mice. Vet. Hum. Toxicol. 42, 196-198] and in vitro [Vrba, J., Kosina, P., Ulrichová, J., Modrianský, M., 2004. Involvement of cytochrome P450 1A in sanguinarine detoxication. Toxicol. Lett. 151, 375-387]. However, CYP1A converts sanguinarine to the products that form DNA adducts [Stiborová, M., Simánek, V., Frei, E., Hobza, P., Ulrichová, J., 2002. DNA adduct formation from quaternary benzo[c]phenanthridine alkaloids sanguinarine and chelerythrine as revealed by the 32P-postlabeling technique. Chem. Biol. Interact. 140, 231-242]. In our work we examined the effects of sanguinarine and chelerythrine on CYP1A1 expression and catalytic activity in human hepatoma cells-HepG2. Sanguinarine and chelerythrine did not affect basal and dioxin-inducible expression of CYP1A1 mRNA and protein in HepG2 cells. The enzymatic activity of CYP1A1 was assessed by the fluorescent measurement of 7-ethyxoresorufin-O-deethylase (EROD) activity. We observed a slight decrease of dioxin-induced EROD activity in HepG2 cells by sanguinarine and chelerythrine. This decrease was attributed to the inhibition of CYP1A1 catalytic activity, as revealed by enzyme kinetic studies on recombinant CYP1A1 protein. The IC50 values for the inhibition of CYP1A1 by sanguinarine and chelerythrine were 2.1 and 1.9muM, respectively. In conclusion, albeit the CYP1A modulates QBA cytotoxicity and genotoxicity, the QBA themselves do not affect CYP1A1 expression. The data indicate that studied alkaloids do not have specific cellular target and their biological effects are rather pleiotropic.