P-glycoprotein (P-gp) limits bioavailability and accumulation of HIV protease inhibitors (PIs). PIs are ligands for the pregnane-X-receptor (PXR), which regulates P-gp expression. This occurs when ligands activate the receptor, initiating binding to response elements in the MDR1 promoter. PXR also activates cytochrome P4503A4 (CYP3A4) and a correlation between hepatic PXR and CYP3A4 mRNA has be...

Azole antifungal drug ketoconazole has recently been demonstrated as an inhibitor of a ligand-induced pregnane X receptor (PXR)-mediated transcriptional regulation of the CYP3A4 gene through disruption of PXR interaction with steroid receptor coactivator (SRC)-1. In contrast, other clotrimazole-derived antifungal agents are known as potent inducers of CYP3A4 through PXR. In the present study, w...

The CYP3A4 enzyme is the most abundant human cytochrome P450 (CYP) and is regarded as the most important enzyme involved in drug metabolism. Inter-individual and inter-population variability in gene expression and enzyme activity are thought to be influenced, in part, by genetic variation. Although Southern African individuals have been shown to exhibit the highest levels of genetic diversity, ...

Adrenocortical carcinoma (ACC) is a rare disease with an extremely poor prognosis. Mitotane alone or in combination with other cytotoxic drugs is a common therapeutic option for ACC. In addition to its adrenolytic function, mitotane has been known for decades to increase the metabolic clearance of glucocorticoids. It was recently shown that the tyrosine kinase inhibitor sunitinib is also rapidl...

The cytochrome P-450 monooxygenase 3A4 (CYP3A4) is responsible for the oxidative metabolism of a wide variety of xenobiotics including an estimated 60% of all clinically used drugs. Although expression of the CYP3A4 gene is known to be induced in response to a variety of compounds, the mechanism underlying this induction, which represents a basis for drug interactions in patients, has remained ...

Rebbeck et al. (7) for US Caucasians. In that specific study on 94 healthy volunteers, 3.2% appeared to be homozygous for this mutation. We did not find any CYP3A4-V homozygotes among the 199 individuals studied. The allele and genotype frequencies were in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (P ϭ 0.432); the absence of ho-mozygotes in our study population of 199 individuals is consistent with a Hardy-We...

The drug metyrapone in the presence of glucocorticoid has been shown to induce the expression of rat hepatic cytochrome P-450 (CYP) 1A1 mRNA in vivo and in vitro through disruption of endogenous CYP1A1 regulator homeostasis and without either compound's binding to the aryl hydrocarbon receptor. Addition of metyrapone to human liver cancer cell cultures, with or without dexamethasone, did not in...

Previously we observed that the antiestrogens tamoxifen and 4-hydroxytamoxifen (4OHT) induce CYP3A4 in primary human hepatocytes and activate human pregnane X receptor (PXR) in cell-based reporter assays. Given the complex cross-talk between nuclear receptors, tissue-specific expression of CYP3A4, and the potential for tamoxifen and 4OHT to interact with a myriad of receptors, this study was un...

The pregnane X receptor (PXR) plays crucial roles in multiple physiological processes. However, the signaling mechanisms responsible are not well defined; it is most likely that multiple functions of PXR are modulated by its phosphorylation. Therefore, we sought to determine whether mutation at a highly conserved Thr(57) affects human PXR (hPXR) function. Site-directed mutagenesis was performed...