Arihiro Tomura

Metabolism and hepatic toxicity of flutamide in cytochrome P450 1A2 knockout SV129 mice.

BackgroundFlutamide, a nonsteroidal antiandrogen used for treatment of prostate cancer, causes a temporary increase in transaminase and in some cases severe liver dysfunction. It is dominantly metabolized by cytochrome P450 (CYP) 1A2 into 2-hydroxyflutamide (OH-flutamide), which has stronger antiandrogenic activity without obvious cytotoxicity to cultured hepatocytes. We hypothesized that another subsidiary metabolite might be responsible for induction of hepatotoxicity.MethodsFlutamide was administered daily to CYP1A2 knockout mice and parental SV129 mice to compare pharmacokinetics and appearance of hepatic toxicity.ResultsIn the CYP1A2 knockout mice, the plasma concentration of flutamide maintained at a high level and OH-flutamide stayed low; a higher amount of FLU-1, an alternative metabolite of flutamide, was detected in urine. Simple repetitive administration of 800 mg/kg of flutamide for 28 days to CYP1A2 knockout mice did not show abnormal elevation of plasma alanine aminotransferase (ALT). However, after the knockout mice were fed with an amino acid-deficient diet for 2 weeks, which reduced the glutathione (GSH) content to 27% of the initial, administration of 400 mg/kg of flutamide increased ALT to over 200 IU/l and histopathologically moderate hepatitis developed. Since FLU-1 itself did not show cytotoxicity or reduce GSH content in vitro, a further metabolized molecule must cause the hepatotoxicity.ConclusionsBlockade of CYP1A2 produced an unknown potential hepatotoxic molecule through FLU-1, and GSH might play an important role in diminishing the reactive hepatotoxic metabolite.

A Novel Compound, NK150460, Exhibits Selective Antitumor Activity against Breast Cancer Cell Lines through Activation of Aryl Hydrocarbon Receptor

Antiestrogen agents are commonly used to treat patients with estrogen receptor (ER)–positive breast cancer. Tamoxifen has been the mainstay of endocrine treatment for patients with early and advanced breast cancer for many years. Following tamoxifen treatment failure, however, there are still limited options for subsequent hormonal therapy. We discovered a novel compound, NK150460, that inhibits 17β-estradiol (E2)–dependent transcription without affecting binding of E2 to ER. Against our expectations, NK150460 inhibited growth of not only most ER-positive, but also some ER-negative breast cancer cell lines, while never inhibiting growth of non–breast cancer cell lines. Cell-based screening using a random shRNA library, identified aryl hydrocarbon receptor nuclear translocator (ARNT) as a key gene involved in NK150460′s antitumor mechanism. siRNAs against not only ARNT but also its counterpart aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) and their target protein, CYP1A1, dramatically abrogated NK150460′s growth-inhibitory activity. This suggests that the molecular cascade of AhR/ARNT plays an essential role in NK150460′s antitumor mechanism. Expression of ERα was decreased by NK150460 treatment, and this was inhibited by an AhR antagonist. Unlike two other AhR agonists now undergoing clinical developmental stage, NK150460 did not induce histone H2AX phosphorylation or p53 expression, suggesting that it did not induce a DNA damage response in treated cells. Cell lines expressing epithelial markers were more sensitive to NK150460 than mesenchymal marker-expressing cells. These data indicate that NK150460 is a novel AhR agonist with selective antitumor activity against breast cancer cell lines, and its features differ from those of the other two AhR agonists. Mol Cancer Ther; 14(2); 343–54. ©2014 AACR.

Suppression of mutant androgen receptors by flutamide

Objectives:  To examine the effects of flutamide and hydroxyflutamide on the transactivation of mutant androgen receptors.