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Human liver microsomes (HLM) and human hepatocytes (HH) are important in vitro systems for studies of intrinsic drug clearance (CLint) in the liver. However, the CLint values are often in disagreement for these two systems. Here, we investigated these differences in a side-by-side comparison of drug metabolism in HLM and HH prepared from 15 matched donors. Protein expression and intracellular unbound drug concentration (Kpuu) effects on the CLint were investigated for five prototypical probe substrates (bupropion–CYP2B6, diclofenac–CYP2C9, omeprazole–CYP2C19, bufuralol–CYP2D6, and midazolam–CYP3A4). The samples were donor-matched to compensate for inter-individual variability but still showed systematic differences in CLint. Global proteomics analysis outlined differences in HLM from HH and homogenates of human liver (HL), indicating variable enrichment of ER-localized cytochrome P450 (CYP) enzymes in the HLM preparation. This suggests that the HLM may not equally and accurately capture metabolic capacity for all CYPs. Scaling CLint with CYP amounts and Kpuu could only partly explain the discordance in absolute values of CLint for the five substrates. Nevertheless, scaling with CYP amounts improved the agreement in rank order for the majority of the substrates. Other factors, such as contribution of additional enzymes and variability in the proportions of active and inactive CYP enzymes in HLM and HH, may have to be considered to avoid the use of empirical scaling factors for prediction of drug metabolism.

Human liver microsomes (HLM) and human hepatocytes (HH) are important in vitro systems for studies of intrinsic drug clearance (CLint) in the liver. However, the CLint values are often in disagreement for these two systems. Here, we investigated these differences in a side-by-side comparison of drug metabolism in HLM and HH prepared from 15 matched donors. Protein expression and intracellular unbound drug concentration (Kpuu) effects on the CLint were investigated for five prototypical probe substrates (bupropion–CYP2B6, diclofenac–CYP2C9, omeprazole–CYP2C19, bufuralol–CYP2D6, and midazolam–CYP3A4). The samples were donor-matched to compensate for inter-individual variability but still showed systematic differences in CLint. Global proteomics analysis outlined differences in HLM from HH and homogenates of human liver (HL), indicating variable enrichment of ER-localized cytochrome P450 (CYP) enzymes in the HLM preparation. This suggests that the HLM may not equally and accurately capture metabolic capacity for all CYPs. Scaling CLint with CYP amounts and Kpuu could only partly explain the discordance in absolute values of CLint for the five substrates. Nevertheless, scaling with CYP amounts improved the agreement in rank order for the majority of the substrates. Other factors, such as contribution of additional enzymes and variability in the proportions of active and inactive CYP enzymes in HLM and HH, may have to be considered to avoid the use of empirical scaling factors for prediction of drug metabolism.

Human liver microsomes (HLM) and human hepatocytes (HH) are important in vitro systems for studies of intrinsic drug clearance (CLint) in the liver. However, the CLint values are often in disagreement for these two systems. Here, we investigated these differences in a side-by-side comparison of drug metabolism in HLM and HH prepared from 15 matched donors. Protein expression and intracellular unbound drug concentration (Kpuu) effects on the CLint were investigated for five prototypical probe substrates (bupropion–CYP2B6, diclofenac–CYP2C9, omeprazole–CYP2C19, bufuralol–CYP2D6, and midazolam–CYP3A4). The samples were donor-matched to compensate for inter-individual variability but still showed systematic differences in CLint. Global proteomics analysis outlined differences in HLM from HH and homogenates of human liver (HL), indicating variable enrichment of ER-localized cytochrome P450 (CYP) enzymes in the HLM preparation. This suggests that the HLM may not equally and accurately capture metabolic capacity for all CYPs. Scaling CLint with CYP amounts and Kpuu could only partly explain the discordance in absolute values of CLint for the five substrates. Nevertheless, scaling with CYP amounts improved the agreement in rank order for the majority of the substrates. Other factors, such as contribution of additional enzymes and variability in the proportions of active and inactive CYP enzymes in HLM and HH, may have to be considered to avoid the use of empirical scaling factors for prediction of drug metabolism.

Human liver microsomes (HLM) and human hepatocytes (HH) are important in vitro systems for studies of intrinsic drug clearance (CLint) in the liver. However, the CLint values are often in disagreement for these two systems. Here, we investigated these differences in a side-by-side comparison of drug metabolism in HLM and HH prepared from 15 matched donors. Protein expression and intracellular unbound drug concentration (Kpuu) effects on the CLint were investigated for five prototypical probe substrates (bupropion–CYP2B6, diclofenac–CYP2C9, omeprazole–CYP2C19, bufuralol–CYP2D6, and midazolam–CYP3A4). The samples were donor-matched to compensate for inter-individual variability but still showed systematic differences in CLint. Global proteomics analysis outlined differences in HLM from HH and homogenates of human liver (HL), indicating variable enrichment of ER-localized cytochrome P450 (CYP) enzymes in the HLM preparation. This suggests that the HLM may not equally and accurately capture metabolic capacity for all CYPs. Scaling CLint with CYP amounts and Kpuu could only partly explain the discordance in absolute values of CLint for the five substrates. Nevertheless, scaling with CYP amounts improved the agreement in rank order for the majority of the substrates. Other factors, such as contribution of additional enzymes and variability in the proportions of active and inactive CYP enzymes in HLM and HH, may have to be considered to avoid the use of empirical scaling factors for prediction of drug metabolism.

Human liver microsomes (HLM) and human hepatocytes (HH) are important in vitro systems for studies of intrinsic drug clearance (CLint) in the liver. However, the CLint values are often in disagreement for these two systems. Here, we investigated these differences in a side-by-side comparison of drug metabolism in HLM and HH prepared from 15 matched donors. Protein expression and intracellular unbound drug concentration (Kpuu) effects on the CLint were investigated for five prototypical probe substrates (bupropion–CYP2B6, diclofenac–CYP2C9, omeprazole–CYP2C19, bufuralol–CYP2D6, and midazolam–CYP3A4). The samples were donor-matched to compensate for inter-individual variability but still showed systematic differences in CLint. Global proteomics analysis outlined differences in HLM from HH and homogenates of human liver (HL), indicating variable enrichment of ER-localized cytochrome P450 (CYP) enzymes in the HLM preparation. This suggests that the HLM may not equally and accurately capture metabolic capacity for all CYPs. Scaling CLint with CYP amounts and Kpuu could only partly explain the discordance in absolute values of CLint for the five substrates. Nevertheless, scaling with CYP amounts improved the agreement in rank order for the majority of the substrates. Other factors, such as contribution of additional enzymes and variability in the proportions of active and inactive CYP enzymes in HLM and HH, may have to be considered to avoid the use of empirical scaling factors for prediction of drug metabolism.

A comprehensive analysis was performed to investigate how inhibition of the human bile salt export pump (BSEP/ABCB11) relates to clinically observed drug induced liver injury (DILI). Inhibition of taurocholate (TA) transport was investigated in BSEP membrane vesicles for a dataset of 250 compounds, and 86 BSEP inhibitors were identified. Structure-activity modeling identified BSEP inhibition to correlate strongly with compound lipophilicity, while positive molecular charge was associated with a lack of inhibition. All approved drugs in the dataset (n=182) were categorized according to DILI warnings in drug labels issued by the FDA and a strong correlation between BSEP inhibition and DILI was identified. As many as 38 of the 61 identified BSEP inhibitors were associated with severe DILI, including nine drugs not previously linked to BSEP inhibition. Further, among the tested compounds, every second drug associated with severe DILI was a BSEP inhibitor. Finally, sandwich cultured human hepatocytes (SCHH) were used to investigate the relationship between BSEP inhibition, TA transport and clinically observed DILI in detail. BSEP inhibitors associated with severe DILI greatly reduced the TA canalicular efflux while BSEP inhibitors with less severe or no DILI resulted in weak or no reduction of TA efflux in SCHH. This distinction illustrates the usefulness of SCHH in refined analysis of BSEP inhibition. In conclusion, BSEP inhibition in membrane vesicles was found to correlate to DILI severity, and altered disposition of TA in SCHH was shown to separate BSEP inhibitors associated with severe DILI from those with no or mild DILI.

A comprehensive analysis was performed to investigate how inhibition of the human bile salt export pump (BSEP/ABCB11) relates to clinically observed drug induced liver injury (DILI). Inhibition of taurocholate (TA) transport was investigated in BSEP membrane vesicles for a dataset of 250 compounds, and 86 BSEP inhibitors were identified. Structure-activity modeling identified BSEP inhibition to correlate strongly with compound lipophilicity, while positive molecular charge was associated with a lack of inhibition. All approved drugs in the dataset (n=182) were categorized according to DILI warnings in drug labels issued by the FDA and a strong correlation between BSEP inhibition and DILI was identified. As many as 38 of the 61 identified BSEP inhibitors were associated with severe DILI, including nine drugs not previously linked to BSEP inhibition. Further, among the tested compounds, every second drug associated with severe DILI was a BSEP inhibitor. Finally, sandwich cultured human hepatocytes (SCHH) were used to investigate the relationship between BSEP inhibition, TA transport and clinically observed DILI in detail. BSEP inhibitors associated with severe DILI greatly reduced the TA canalicular efflux while BSEP inhibitors with less severe or no DILI resulted in weak or no reduction of TA efflux in SCHH. This distinction illustrates the usefulness of SCHH in refined analysis of BSEP inhibition. In conclusion, BSEP inhibition in membrane vesicles was found to correlate to DILI severity, and altered disposition of TA in SCHH was shown to separate BSEP inhibitors associated with severe DILI from those with no or mild DILI.

A comprehensive analysis was performed to investigate how inhibition of the human bile salt export pump (BSEP/ABCB11) relates to clinically observed drug induced liver injury (DILI). Inhibition of taurocholate (TA) transport was investigated in BSEP membrane vesicles for a dataset of 250 compounds, and 86 BSEP inhibitors were identified. Structure-activity modeling identified BSEP inhibition to correlate strongly with compound lipophilicity, while positive molecular charge was associated with a lack of inhibition. All approved drugs in the dataset (n=182) were categorized according to DILI warnings in drug labels issued by the FDA and a strong correlation between BSEP inhibition and DILI was identified. As many as 38 of the 61 identified BSEP inhibitors were associated with severe DILI, including nine drugs not previously linked to BSEP inhibition. Further, among the tested compounds, every second drug associated with severe DILI was a BSEP inhibitor. Finally, sandwich cultured human hepatocytes (SCHH) were used to investigate the relationship between BSEP inhibition, TA transport and clinically observed DILI in detail. BSEP inhibitors associated with severe DILI greatly reduced the TA canalicular efflux while BSEP inhibitors with less severe or no DILI resulted in weak or no reduction of TA efflux in SCHH. This distinction illustrates the usefulness of SCHH in refined analysis of BSEP inhibition. In conclusion, BSEP inhibition in membrane vesicles was found to correlate to DILI severity, and altered disposition of TA in SCHH was shown to separate BSEP inhibitors associated with severe DILI from those with no or mild DILI.

A comprehensive analysis was performed to investigate how inhibition of the human bile salt export pump (BSEP/ABCB11) relates to clinically observed drug induced liver injury (DILI). Inhibition of taurocholate (TA) transport was investigated in BSEP membrane vesicles for a dataset of 250 compounds, and 86 BSEP inhibitors were identified. Structure-activity modeling identified BSEP inhibition to correlate strongly with compound lipophilicity, while positive molecular charge was associated with a lack of inhibition. All approved drugs in the dataset (n=182) were categorized according to DILI warnings in drug labels issued by the FDA and a strong correlation between BSEP inhibition and DILI was identified. As many as 38 of the 61 identified BSEP inhibitors were associated with severe DILI, including nine drugs not previously linked to BSEP inhibition. Further, among the tested compounds, every second drug associated with severe DILI was a BSEP inhibitor. Finally, sandwich cultured human hepatocytes (SCHH) were used to investigate the relationship between BSEP inhibition, TA transport and clinically observed DILI in detail. BSEP inhibitors associated with severe DILI greatly reduced the TA canalicular efflux while BSEP inhibitors with less severe or no DILI resulted in weak or no reduction of TA efflux in SCHH. This distinction illustrates the usefulness of SCHH in refined analysis of BSEP inhibition. In conclusion, BSEP inhibition in membrane vesicles was found to correlate to DILI severity, and altered disposition of TA in SCHH was shown to separate BSEP inhibitors associated with severe DILI from those with no or mild DILI.

A comprehensive analysis was performed to investigate how inhibition of the human bile salt export pump (BSEP/ABCB11) relates to clinically observed drug induced liver injury (DILI). Inhibition of taurocholate (TA) transport was investigated in BSEP membrane vesicles for a dataset of 250 compounds, and 86 BSEP inhibitors were identified. Structure-activity modeling identified BSEP inhibition to correlate strongly with compound lipophilicity, while positive molecular charge was associated with a lack of inhibition. All approved drugs in the dataset (n=182) were categorized according to DILI warnings in drug labels issued by the FDA and a strong correlation between BSEP inhibition and DILI was identified. As many as 38 of the 61 identified BSEP inhibitors were associated with severe DILI, including nine drugs not previously linked to BSEP inhibition. Further, among the tested compounds, every second drug associated with severe DILI was a BSEP inhibitor. Finally, sandwich cultured human hepatocytes (SCHH) were used to investigate the relationship between BSEP inhibition, TA transport and clinically observed DILI in detail. BSEP inhibitors associated with severe DILI greatly reduced the TA canalicular efflux while BSEP inhibitors with less severe or no DILI resulted in weak or no reduction of TA efflux in SCHH. This distinction illustrates the usefulness of SCHH in refined analysis of BSEP inhibition. In conclusion, BSEP inhibition in membrane vesicles was found to correlate to DILI severity, and altered disposition of TA in SCHH was shown to separate BSEP inhibitors associated with severe DILI from those with no or mild DILI.