Cytochrome P450 activity in rheumatoid arthritis patients during continuous IL-6 receptor antagonist therapy.

BACKGROUND: Inflammation suppresses cytochrome P450 (CYP) enzyme activity, and single-dose interleukin 6 receptor antagonists (anti-IL-6R) reverse this effect. Here, we assess the impact of continuous anti-IL-6R therapy in patients with rheumatoid arthritis. METHODS: In a clinical pharmacokinetic trial, the Basel cocktail was administered before and after 3 and 12 weeks of anti-IL-6R therapy to assess CYP enzyme activity (registered in the ClinicalTrials.gov database (identifier NCT04842981) on April 13th, 2021). In a retrospective study, the 4ß-hydroxycholesterol/cholesterol ratio was measured as a biomarker for CYP3A4 activity before and after 3 and 6 months of anti-IL-6R therapy. The control group was patients initiating a tumor necrosis factor alfa (TNF-α) inhibitor. RESULTS: In the clinical pharmacokinetic trial (n = 3), midazolam metabolic ratio (CYP3A4) was inconclusive due to the limited sample size. Midazolam AUC and Cmax indicate a weak impact on CYP3A4 activity after 3 weeks of anti-IL-6R therapy compared to baseline (AUC geometric mean ratio (GMR): 0.80, 95% CI: 0.64-0.99 and Cmax GMR: 0.58, 95% CI: 0.37-0.91), which returns to baseline levels after 12 weeks of therapy (AUC GMR 1.02, 95% CI: 0.72-1.46 and Cmax GMR 1.03, 95% CI 0.72-1.47). No effect on the 4ß-hydroxycholesterol/cholesterol ratio was observed in the retrospective study. CONCLUSION: Based on sparse data from three patients, continuous anti-IL-6R therapy seems to cause an acute but transient increase in CYP3A4 activity in rheumatoid arthritis patients, which may be due to a normalization of the inflammation-suppressed CYP activity. Further studies are warranted to understand the mechanism behind this putative transient effect. Trial registration Registered in the ClinicalTrials.gov database (identifier NCT04842981) on April 13th, 2021.

Flucloxacillin Is a Weak Inducer of CYP3A4 in Healthy Adults and 3D Spheroid of Primary Human Hepatocytes.

Flucloxacillin is a widely used antibiotic. It is an agonist to the nuclear receptor PXR that regulates the expression of cytochrome P450 (CYP) enzymes. Treatment with flucloxacillin reduces warfarin efficacy and plasma concentrations of tacrolimus, voriconazole, and repaglinide. We conducted a translational study to investigate if flucloxacillin induces CYP enzymes. We also investigated if flucloxacillin induces its own metabolism as an autoinducer. We performed a randomized, unblinded, two-period, cross-over, clinical pharmacokinetic cocktail study. Twelve healthy adults completed the study. They ingested 1 g flucloxacillin 3 times daily for 31 days, and we assessed the full pharmacokinetics of the Basel cocktail drugs on days 0, 10, and 28, and plasma concentrations of flucloxacillin on days 0, 9, and 27. The 3D spheroid of primary human hepatocytes (PHHs) were exposed to flucloxacillin (concentration range: 0.15-250 µM) for 96 hours. Induction of mRNA expression, protein abundance, and enzyme activity of CYP enzymes were assessed. Flucloxacillin treatment reduced the metabolic ratio of midazolam (CYP3A4), (geometric mean ratio (GMR) 10 days (95% confidence interval (CI)): 0.75 (0.64-0.89)) and (GMR 28 days (95% CI): 0.72 (0.62-0.85)). Plasma concentrations of flucloxacillin did not change during 27 days of treatment. Flucloxacillin caused concentration-dependent induction of CYP3A4 and CYP2B6 (mRNA, protein, and activity), CYP2C9 (mRNA and protein), CYP2C19 (mRNA and activity), and CYP2D6 (activity) in 3D spheroid PHH. In conclusion, flucloxacillin is a weak inducer of CYP3A4, which may lead to clinically relevant drug-drug interactions for some narrow therapeutic range drugs that are substrates of CYP3A4.

Initiation of glucose-lowering drugs reduces the anticoagulant effect of warfarin-But not through altered drug metabolism in patients with type 2 diabetes.

AIMS: Drug metabolism might be altered in patients with type 2 diabetes. We aimed to evaluate if initiation of glucose-lowering drugs impacts warfarin efficacy and drug metabolism. METHODS: First, we conducted a register-based self-controlled cohort study on Danish and Scottish warfarin users. Warfarin efficacy (international normalized ratio [INR]) was compared before and after initiation of glucose-lowering drugs. Second, we conducted a clinical pharmacokinetic trial comprising treatment-naïve type 2 diabetes patients. Patients ingested probe drugs for drug-metabolizing enzymes (the Basel Cocktail) before initiating glucose-lowering treatment, and after 3 and 12 weeks of treatment. Drug metabolism, glycaemic control, and inflammation were assessed on each visit. RESULTS: In the Danish and Scottish cohorts (n = 982 and n = 44, respectively), initiating glucose-lowering drugs reduced warfarin efficacy. INR decreased from 2.47 to 2.21 in the Danish cohort (mean difference -0.26; 95% CI -0.35; -0.17) and from 2.33 to 2.13 in the Scottish cohort (-0.21; 95% CI -0.52; 0.11) after initiation of glucose-lowering treatment. This impact on INR was more pronounced among individuals with stronger effects of glucose-lowering treatment. In the clinical pharmacokinetic trial (n = 10), initiating metformin did not affect drug metabolism after 3 weeks (geometric mean ratio of CYP3A metabolic ratio: 1.12 [95% CI: 0.95; 1.32]) or 12 weeks of metformin treatment. Glycaemic control improved during treatment, while inflammation remained low and unchanged during treatment. CONCLUSIONS: In conclusion, initiation of glucose-lowering drugs among chronic warfarin users seems associated with a reduction in INR, particularly among individuals with a large decrease in HbA1c . This effect seems unrelated to CYP enzyme activity and warfarin drug metabolism.

Sex, racial, and ethnic diversity in clinical trials.

Diverse representation in clinical trials is crucial to understand the efficacy and safety of drugs in minority groups. This review aims to (1) describe research participants' sex, racial, and ethnic diversity in clinical drug trials and (2) describe the sex distribution of researchers conducting the research. We reviewed all clinical drug trials published in the journals "Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics" and "Clinical and Translational Science" in 2000-2001 and 2020-2021 and analyzed the research participants' and researchers' demographics. We compared the race of the research participants with the concurrent race diversity of the reference population in the countries where the research was conducted. We identified 281 articles with 17,639 research participants. Approximately one-third of the research participants were women in both 2000-2001 and 2020-2021. The representation from racial minorities of Black and Asian people increased from 2000-2001 to 2020-2021, but Asian and Native American people are still under-represented in clinical drug trials today. The proportion of female authors increased, but female authors still made up less than 40% of the total number of authors in 2020-2021. In conclusion, men are still over-represented in clinical pharmacology research, and some races are still vastly under-represented. Furthermore, although the proportion of female authors increased with time, they are still under-represented as first and last authors.

Tutorial: Statistical analysis and reporting of clinical pharmacokinetic studies.

Pharmacokinetics is the cornerstone of understanding drug absorption, distribution, metabolism, and elimination. It is also the key to describing variability in drug response caused by drug-drug interactions (DDIs), pharmacogenetics, impaired kidney and liver function, etc. This tutorial aims to provide a guideline and step-by-step tutorial on essential considerations when designing clinical pharmacokinetic studies and reporting results. This includes a comprehensive guide on how to conduct the statistical analysis and a complete code for the statistical software R. As an example, we created a mock dataset simulating a clinical pharmacokinetic DDI study with 12 subjects who were administered 2 mg oral midazolam with and without an inducer of cytochrome P450 3A. We provide a step-by-step guide to the statistical analysis of this clinical pharmacokinetic study, including sample size/power calculation, descriptive statistics, noncompartmental analyses, and hypothesis testing. The different analyses and parameters are described in detail, and we provide a complete R code ready to use in supplementary files. Finally, we discuss important considerations when designing and reporting clinical pharmacokinetic studies. The scope of this tutorial is not limited to DDI studies, and with minor adjustments, it applies to all types of clinical pharmacokinetic studies. This work was done by early career researchers for early career researchers. We hope this tutorial may help early career researchers when getting started on their own pharmacokinetic studies. We encourage you to use this as an inspiration and starting point and continuously evolve your statistical skills.

Clinical and Molecular Perspectives on Inflammation-Mediated Regulation of Drug Metabolism and Transport.

Inflammation is a possible cause of variability in drug response and toxicity due to altered regulation in drug-metabolizing enzymes and transporters (DMETs) in humans. Here, we evaluate the clinical and in vitro evidence on inflammation-mediated modulation of DMETs, and the impact on drug metabolism in humans. Furthermore, we identify and discuss the gaps in our current knowledge. A systematic literature search on PubMed, Embase, and grey literature was performed in the period of February to September 2020. A total of 203 papers was included. In vitro studies in primary human hepatocytes revealed strong evidence that CYP3A4 is strongly downregulated by inflammatory cytokines IL-6 and IL-1ß. CYP1A2, CYP2C9, CYP2C19, and CYP2D6 were downregulated to a lesser extent. In clinical studies, acute and chronic inflammatory diseases were observed to cause downregulation of CYP enzymes in a similar pattern. However, there is no clear correlation between in vitro studies and clinical studies, mainly because most in vitro studies use supraphysiological cytokine doses. Moreover, clinical studies demonstrate considerable variability in terms of methodology and inconsistencies in evaluation of the inflammatory state. In conclusion, we find inflammation and pro-inflammatory cytokines to be important factors in regulation of drug-metabolizing enzymes and transporters. The observed downregulation is clinically relevant, and we emphasize caution when treating patients in an inflammatory state with narrow therapeutic index drugs. Further research is needed to identify the full extent of inflammation-mediated changes in DMETs and to further support personalized medicine.

Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors and the risk of restless legs syndrome: a symmetry analysis.

PURPOSE: Largely based on case series, several drugs have been implicated in drug-induced restless legs syndrome (RLS) including selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI). We aimed to assess the association between initiation of SSRIs and RLS in a self-controlled design. METHODS: We conducted a symmetry analysis, including Danish adults who filled in their first prescription of an SSRI in the period of 1997-2017 and initiated an RLS drug (quinine, ropinirole, pramipexole or rotigotine) 1 year prior to or after this date. A symmetrical distribution of prescriptions before and after SSRI initiation is expected if there is no association between SSRI and RLS (a sequence ratio (SR) of 1.0). The symmetry analysis design is robust to confounders that are stable over time. Subgroup analyses were conducted, restricting the population on sex, age, selected diagnoses and concurrent medication. RESULTS: A total of 10,875 patients filled in their first-ever prescription of both an SSRI and an RLS drug within a 1-year interval; 5341 patients filled their prescription of SSRI prior to their prescription of an RLS drug, and 5534 patients redeemed their prescriptions in the opposite order (SR 0.97, 95% CI 0.93-1.00). Restricting the outcome to dopamine agonist initiation revealed a slightly increased sequence ratio (SR 1.34, 95% CI 1.24-1.46), which was reduced when adjusting for trends in prescription (adjusted SR 1.21, 95% CI 1.12-1.32). Restricting the outcome to quinine initiation showed no association. CONCLUSION: We found no association between the initiation of an SSRI and the development of RLS assessed by the prescription of an RLS drug.