Measurement of 4-hydroxylation of ifosfamide in human liver microsomes using the estimation of free and protein-bound acrolein and codetermination of keto- and carboxyifosfamide.
OBJECTIVE
The aim of the present study was to determine the turnover (4-hydroxylation and N-dechloroethylation) of ifosfamide in a total of 25 human liver microsomal preparations in which the codetermination of keto- and carboxyifosfamide as well as the calculation of free and protein-bound acrolein was carried out for the first time.


METHODS
The 4-hydroxylation of ifosfamide was estimated by using acrolein (free and protein-bound) and a newly developed procedure involving the codetermination of keto- and carboxyifosfamide (LC/MS). The ifosfamide N-dechloroethylation was determined as the sum of 2- and 3-dechloroethylifosfamide (LC/MS).


RESULTS
Using the usual estimation of liberated free acrolein in 25 human liver microsomal preparations, the 4-hydroxylation of ifosfamide amounted to 0.28+/-0.16 nmol/min. nmol(P450). However, after calculating the 4-hydroxylation as the sum of free and protein-bound acrolein and keto- and carboxyifosfamide, a ninefold higher activity (2.40+/-0.73 nmol/min. nmol(P450)) was found. The percentage of the inactive metabolites keto- (25/25) and carboxyifosfamide (5/25) in the 4-hydroxylation amounted to only 0.79-5.25% (mean 2.90%). The ifosfamide N-dechloroethylation (mean 0.21+/-0.11 nmol/min. nmol(P450)) determined as the sum of 2- and 3-dechloroethylifosfamide was estimated as 8.3+/-4.3% of the total ifosfamide turnover. The application of the relative substrate-activity factor (RSF)-approach and the calculation of the contribution of various isoforms in the ifosfamide 4-hydroxylation yielded the following results: CYP 3A4: 58+/-31%, CYP 2A6: 25+/-15%, and CYP 2C9: 5+/-2% of the total measured 4-hydroxylation. A correlation between 4-hydroxylation and the N-dechloroethylation rates of ifosfamide and the activities of isoenzymes indicates the involvement of both CYP 3A4 ( P=0.026) and CYP 2C9 ( P=0.012) in the 4-hydroxylation reaction and of CYP 3A4 ( P<0.01) in the N-dechloroethylation reaction.


CONCLUSIONS
The estimation of protein-bound acrolein should be included in the calculation of the ifosfamide 4-hydroxylation besides liberated free acrolein. Because of the small amounts of the inactive metabolites keto- and carboxyifosfamide, the exclusive determination of acrolein only (free and protein-bound) seems to suffice for the calculation of total ifosfamide hydroxylation. Using this method the hepatic in vitro turnover of ifosfamide was estimated as 92% for 4-hydroxylation (CYP 3A4 and CYP 2A6 mediated) and 8% for N-dechloroethylation (CYP 3A4 mediated), and in this way, a relative overestimation of the N-dechloroethylation of ifosfamide on the whole metabolism is avoided.
Preiss
Rainer
R
Institute of Clinical Pharmacology, University of Leipzig, Härtelstr. 16-18, 04107 Leipzig, Germany. preir@medizin.uni-leipzig.de
Schmidt
Renate
R
Baumann
Frank
F
Hanschmann
Henning
H
Hauss
Johann
J
Geissler
Felix
F
Pahlig
Hartmut
H
Ratzewiss
Bernd
B
D000171:Acrolein / Q000378:metabolism*; D015415:Biomarkers; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; D019363:Cytochrome P-450 CYP1A1 / Q000378:metabolism*; D019388:Cytochrome P-450 CYP1A2 / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D006900:Hydroxylation; D007069:Ifosfamide / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000493:pharmacokinetics*; D007527:Isoenzymes / Q000378:metabolism; D008862:Microsomes, Liver / Q000201:enzymology*; D011485:Protein Binding
D015415:Biomarkers; D007527:Isoenzymes; C064446:carboxyifosfamide; D000171:Acrolein; D019363:Cytochrome P-450 CYP1A1; D019388:Cytochrome P-450 CYP1A2; D007069:Ifosfamide