Authors: Feng Deng
Source: Työväentutkimus Vuosikirja (article, 2019-02-14)
Field: Chemistry — Organic Chemistry

Structure-Activity Relationships of Efflux Transporter Inhibitors Breast cancer resistance protein (BCRP), multidrug resistance associated protein 2 (MRP2), and permeability glycoprotein (P-gp, also known as multidrug resistance protein 1 or MDR1) are all well-studied efflux drug transporters that are expressed in the cells of many physiological barriers, where they restrict the entry and facilitate the elimination of various harmful compounds. Their substrates are chemically diverse, including drugs, dietary compounds, and endogenous metabolites. Due to their protective nature, a disruption of their transport function, by drug-drug interaction for instance, may lead to an altered exposure and adverse effects of their substrates. Therefore, it is necessary to evaluate transporter inhibition early on in drug development.\n\nVesicular transport (VT) assay is a widely used in vitro technique in substrate and inhibition studies. In this thesis, the optimization of the VT assay with the addition of albumin was explored. Up to a two-fold improvement in transport activity was observed, but in relation to many sources of variability that affect the VT assay, such as interlaboratory variability and addition of cholesterol in membrane vesicles, the improvement was rather modest and likely insignificant for IVIVE.\n\nWhile the inhibition of drug transporters by food is well reported, less is known about food additives that are abundant in all processed food. A set of 26 food additives, including colorants, preservatives, and sweeteners, was examined using the VT assay for drug transporter inhibition. The MRP2 and BCRP, in particular, were strongly inhibited by the azo dyes used as colorants. The results indicated that food additives may have an impact on the bioavailability of oral medications but further whole cells studies are required to confirm the impact of these findings.\n\nAlthough numerous drug transporter inhibitors are known, the structural and physicochemical basis of inhibition remains generally undiscovered. The structure-activity relationship (SAR) of 114 compounds, divided into 5 subgroups, were studied using the vesicular transport assay in order to identify important structural features of MRP2 inhibition. In addition, pharmacophore models for each subgroup were also developed. The SAR of BCRP, MRP2, and P-gp inhibition was further studied with a smaller set of compounds and computational docking. The results suggested that anionic charge and halogen substitution were beneficial but not required for MRP2 inhibition. On the other hand, while lipophilicity increased P-gp inhibition, the negative charge and halogen substitution were detrimental for it. In addition, docking scores were found to have a good correlation with in vitro activity in certain subgroups and single protein residue interactions important for inhibition were identified. Efflux ; Transporter ; Chemistry ; Computer science ; Biochemistry ; Gene Synthesis of β-Lactam Compounds ; Crystal structures of chemical compounds ; Metal complexes synthesis and properties