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Advances in Brief |
Department of Molecular Pharmacology, St. Jude Childrens Research Hospital, Memphis, Tennessee 38105
| ABSTRACT |
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| Introduction |
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We have recently demonstrated that mouse small intestine expressed high levels of CEs that could convert CPT-11 to SN-38 (12) , and based on these data, we hypothesized that human intestine may also efficiently activate the drug. If so, then activation of CPT-11 in the intestine may result in local toxicity. Hence we assessed the conversion of CPT-11 to SN-38 by sonicates of biopsies of human intestinal mucosa and monitored the ability of a cDNA encoding a hiCE to activate this drug. Our data indicate that high-level expression of esterases occurs in the small intestine and that at least one of these enzymes is proficient at CPT-11 activation.
| Materials and Methods |
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Human Biopsy Material.
Biopsies of human intestine and liver were obtained from the
Cooperative Human Tissue Network (Birmingham, AL). They were ground
under liquid nitrogen, and the resulting powder was sonicated in 50
mM HEPES (pH 7.4) on ice.
CE Assay.
CE activity was determined by a spectrophotometric assay using
o-NPA as a substrate (13
, 14)
. Briefly,
extracts prepared by sonication in 50 mM HEPES
(pH 7.4) were incubated in 3 mM o-NPA,
and the absorbance at A420 was measured at 1-min
intervals for 10 min. Protein concentrations in extracts were
determined using Bio-Rad protein (Bio-Rad, Hercules, CA) reagent, with
BSA as a standard. CE activity is reported as µmoles of
o-NPA converted per minute per milligram of protein.
CPT-11 Conversion Assays.
Activation of CPT-11 was determined by incubating samples with either 5
or 25 µM CPT-11 in a total volume of 200 µl of 50 mM
HEPES (pH 7.4) at 37°C for up to 20 h. Reactions were terminated
by the addition of an equal volume of cold acidified methanol and
subsequent centrifugation at 100,000 x g for
30 min; SN-38 in the reaction was quantitated by
high-performance liquid chromatography.
Determination of CPT-11 and SN-38.
Concentrations of CPT-11 and SN-38 were determined by high-performance
liquid chromatography as described previously (15)
.
Detection was achieved using a Jasco FP-920 fluorescence detector; the
sensitivity of this system was 20 and 1.5 pg/µl for CPT-11 and SN-38,
respectively.
Amplification of hiCE cDNA.
The full-length coding sequence of the hiCE (GenBank Accession number
Y09616; Ref. 16
) was obtained by PCR using oligonucleotide
primers that created XbaI restriction sites adjacent to the
ATG initiation and TAG termination codons. The cDNA was amplified from
human liver cDNA (Clontech, Palo Alto, CA) using Taq polymerase under
the following conditions: (a) denaturation at 94°C for
45 s; (b) annealing at 50°C for 1 min; and
(c) extension at 72°C for 2 min. After 30 cycles of
amplification, products were ligated into pCR-II TOPO and sequenced to
verify their identity. One clone containing the bona
fide sequence was ligated into pCIneo (pCIhiCE) for
expression in mammalian cells. Plasmids containing hCE1 (pCIHUMCAR) and
rabbit liver CE (pCIRAB) have been described previously (14
, 17)
.
Transfection of COS-7 Cells.
COS-7 cells were transfected by electroporation as described previously
(14)
. Extracts were prepared by sonication of cell pellets
in minimal volumes of 50 mM HEPES (pH 7.4) on ice 48 h
after transfection. Transfection efficiencies of 510% were routinely
achieved using this method.
Growth Inhibition Assays.
Growth inhibition assays were performed with COS-7 cells as described
previously (14
, 18)
. Forty-eight h after transfection,
5 x 104
cells were plated into
3.5-cm diameter dishes and allowed to attach overnight. CPT-11 diluted
in fresh medium was applied for 2 h, and the cells were allowed to
grow for 3 days, equivalent to three cell doublings. Cell number was
determined by using a Coulter Multisizer II (Coulter Electronics,
Luton, United Kingdom) and growth inhibition curves plotted using Prism
software (GraphPad Software, Inc., San Diego, CA).
IC50 values were calculated from these curve
fits.
| Results |
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Isolation and Expression of a hiCE.
A cDNA encoding a hiCE has recently been isolated (16)
and
shown to be predominantly expressed in the small intestine. To
determine whether this enzyme could activate CPT-11, we isolated the
full-length coding sequence by PCR and expressed the protein in COS-7
cells. Table 2
demonstrates the level of CE activity and CPT-11 conversion by
sonicates of cells expressing hiCE. As shown in the table, efficient
conversion of both o-NPA and CPT-11 was observed. As a
comparison, we have included data derived from rabbit and human liver
CEs that are efficient and inefficient, respectively, at CPT-11
activation.
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Expression of hiCE in Mammalian Cells Confers Sensitivity to
CPT-11.
To determine whether this enzyme could confer sensitivity of cells to
CPT-11, we monitored the effect of this drug on the growth of
COS-7 cells expressing hiCE. Fig. 1
demonstrates growth inhibition curves for COS-7 cells transiently
transfected with either pCIhiCE or pCIneo and treated with CPT-11. The
IC50 of cells expressing hiCE was approximately
11-fold less than that of cells transfected with the parent plasmid.
Because the transient transfections do not yield 100% transfection
efficiencies, there is always a population of cells that contribute to
the IC50 values but do not contain the plasmid of
interest. However, it can be seen that even under these
transient conditions, a significant reduction in the
IC50 for CPT-11 was observed for cells expressing
hiCE. These data indicate that efficient in vivo activation
of CPT-11 by hiCE is sufficient to sensitize cells to this drug.
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| Discussion |
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Previous metabolic and pharmacokinetic studies indicate that SN-38 is conjugated to form SN-38 glucuronide, and this is secreted into the bile (20 , 21) . Bacterial glucuronidases present within the gut flora can release SN-38 from the conjugate, and it has been proposed that this free drug is responsible for toxicity. Takasuna et al. (11) monitored the conversion of CPT-11 by extracts of the rat digestive tract and demonstrated that the highest conversion was observed in the upper small intestine. They also showed that treatment of these animals with oral doses of penicillin and streptomycin increased fecal output of CPT-11, confirming the hypothesis that bacterial glucuronidases were involved in the deconjugation of SN-38 glucuronide. Because clinical trials of a combination of CPT-11 and antibiotics are under way, it will be interesting to see to what extent the delayed diarrhea is ameliorated in these patients.
In this report, we now propose an additional mechanism for SN-38 production in the human gut whereby hiCE directly activates CPT-11, leading to local cytotoxicity with subsequent diarrhea. Recently, Slatter et al. (22) have reported that 30% of a dose of CPT-11 has been detected unchanged in human bile after i.v. injection of 125 mg/m2 radiolabeled drug. Because the bile duct opens into the proximal duodenum, direct conversion of CPT-11 to SN-38 could occur within the intestine. Hence, both oral and i.v. administration of CPT-11 will result in accumulation of SN-38 within the small intestine by both direct drug activation and bacterial-mediated deconjugation. Because specific esterase inhibitors are not available, it is currently not possible to selectively inhibit hiCE with an aim to reduce gut toxicity.
Recent studies with human small intestine, colon, and liver biopsies have indicated that wide ranges of CPT-11 conversion can be achieved in these tissues (23 , 24) . Similar levels of drug activation were seen in both liver and colon samples, although there was considerable variability between patients. However, in these studies, CE assays using o-NPA as a substrate were not performed; therefore, the relative amounts and specific activities of both CPT-11-activating and nonspecific enzymes in these tissues are unknown. By identifying a hiCE that can efficiently activate CPT-11, our data provide molecular evidence for drug metabolism and explain the gut toxicity associated with CPT-11.
hiCE cDNA was isolated by Schwer et al. (16)
from a small intestine
gt11 library by hybridization screening using
a hCE nucleotide sequence. These authors performed Northern analysis of
RNA isolated from human tissues and demonstrated significant
overexpression of the mRNA in the small intestine. This was further
localized to jejunum. Interestingly, they also demonstrated low-level
expression of the hiCE mRNA in the liver, raising the possibility that
this is the enzyme involved in CPT-11 metabolism in that organ. Recent
reports have indicated that another human CE present in the liver,
hCE2, may also contribute to CPT-11 activation in vivo
(25)
. Data derived from extracts of small intestine and
liver indicate that equally proficient CPT-11 to SN-38 conversion can
occur in both tissues (Table 1)
; however, the overall level of
nonspecific CE activity in the former tissue is approximately 10-fold
lower. This indicates that the relative proportions of esterases that
can activate CPT-11 are
10-fold higher in the small intestine. With
the identification of an increasing number of CEs in human tissues that
can metabolize CPT-11, the relative involvement of each in drug
activation may allow pharmacokinetic guidance of therapeutically
relevant doses of SN-38.
The sequence diversity of CEs does not predict the ability of a particular enzyme to metabolize CPT-11. For example, rabbit liver CE and hiCE are both efficient at drug metabolism, yet they share only a 54% similarity and a 47% identity at the amino acid level. In contrast, hCE1 is >86% similar to rabbit CE but metabolizes CPT-11 very inefficiently (19) . Preliminary computer modeling studies of the rabbit enzyme and hCE1 indicate that the ability of a CE to activate CPT-11 is dependent on the residues that form the entrance to the active site gorge of these proteins.4 We are currently purifying these proteins for structural studies to confirm the computer-predicted models.
In conclusion, we have demonstrated efficient activation of CPT-11 by human small intestine and confirmed the ability of hiCE to metabolize this drug when expressed in COS-7 cells. These data provide additional evidence that CPT-11-associated delayed diarrhea may be due to direct activation of this drug by enzymes present within the intestine.
| Note Added in Proof |
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| FOOTNOTES |
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1 Supported in part by NIH Grants CA-76202,
CA-79763, and CA-23099, Cancer Center Core Grant P30 CA-21765, and the
American Lebanese Syrian Associated Charities. ![]()
2 To whom requests for reprints should be
addressed, at Department of Molecular Pharmacology, St. Jude
Childrens Research Hospital, 332 North Lauderdale Street,
Memphis, TN 38105. Phone: (901) 495-3440; Fax: (901) 521-1668;
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3 The abbreviations used are: CPT-11, irinotecan,
7-ethyl-10-[4-(1-piperidino)-1-piperidino]carbonyloxycamptothecin;
CE, carboxylesterase; hCE, human liver carboxylesterase; hiCE, human
intestinal carboxylesterase; o-NPA,
o-nitrophenyl acetate; SN-38,
7-ethyl-10-hydroxycamptothecin. ![]()
4 R. M. Wadkins and P. M. Potter,
manuscript in preparation. ![]()
Received 5/ 1/00. Accepted 7/18/00.
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