Use of mRNA expression to detect the induction of drug metabolising enzymes in rat and human hepatocytes

It is important to investigate the induction of cytochrome P450 (CYP) enzymes by drugs. The most relevant end point is enzyme activity; however, this requires many cells and is low throughput. We have compared the CYP1A, CYP2B and CYP3A induction response to eight inducers in rat and human hepatocytes using enzyme activities (CYP1A2 (ethoxyresorufin), 2B (benzoxyresorufin for rat and bupropion for human) and CYP3A (testosterone)) and Taqman™ Low Density Array (TLDA) analysis. There was a good correlation between the induction of CYP1A2, CYP2B6 and CYP3A4 enzyme activities and mRNA expression in human hepatocytes. In contrast, BROD activities and mRNA expression in rat hepatocytes correlated poorly. However, bupropion hydroxylation correlated well with Cyp2b1 expression in rat hepatocytes. TLDA analysis of a panel of mRNAs encoding for CYPs, phase 2 enzymes, nuclear receptors and transporters revealed that the main genes induced by the 8 compounds tested were the CYPs. AhR ligands also induced UDP-glucuronosyltransferases and glutathione S-transferases in rat and human hepatocytes. The transporters, MDR1, MDR3 and OATPA were the only transporter genes significantly up-regulated in human hepatocytes. In rat hepatocytes Bsep, Mdr2, Mrp2, Mrp3 and Oatp2 were up-regulated. We could then show a good in vivo:in vitro correlation in the induction response of isolated rat hepatocytes and ex-vivo hepatic microsomes for the drug development candidate, EMD392949. In conclusion, application of TLDA methodology to investigate the potential of compounds to induce enzymes in rat and human hepatocytes increases the throughput and information gained from one assay, without reducing the predictive capacity.