title: Drug Transporter Expression and Activity in Human Hepatoma HuH-7 Cells.
abstract: Human hepatoma cells may represent a valuable alternative to the use of human hepatocytes for studying hepatic drug transporters, which is now a regulatory issue during drug development. In the present work, we have characterized hepatic drug transporter expression, activity and regulation in human hepatoma HuH-7 cells, in order to determine the potential relevance of these cells for drug transport assays. HuH-7 cells displayed notable multidrug resistance-associated protein (MRP) activity, presumed to reflect expression of various hepatic MRPs, including MRP2. By contrast, they failed to display functional activities of the uptake transporters sodium taurocholate co-transporting polypeptide (NTCP), organic anion-transporting polypeptides (OATPs) and organic cation transporter 1 (OCT1), and of the canalicular transporters P-glycoprotein and breast cancer resistance protein (BCRP). Concomitantly, mRNA expressions of various sinusoidal and canalicular hepatic drug transporters were not detected (NTCP, OATP1B1, organic anion transporter 2 (OAT2), OCT1 and bile salt export pump) or were found to be lower (OATP1B3, OATP2B1, multidrug and toxin extrusion protein 1, BCRP and MRP3) in hepatoma HuH-7 cells than those found in human hepatocytes, whereas other transporters such as OAT7, MRP4 and MRP5 were up-regulated. HuH-7 cells additionally exhibited farnesoid X receptor (FXR)- and nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2)-related up-regulation of some transporters. Such data indicate that HuH-7 cells, although expressing rather poorly some main hepatic drug transporters, may be useful for investigating interactions of drugs with MRPs, notably MRP2, and for studying FXR- or Nrf2-mediated gene regulation.
authors.affiliation: Institut de Recherches en Santé, Environnement et Travail (IRSET), UMR INSERM U1085, Faculté de Pharmacie, 2 Avenue du Pr Léon Bernard, 35043 Rennes, France. elodie.jouan@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Elodie
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Jouan
authors.affiliation: Institut de Recherches en Santé, Environnement et Travail (IRSET), UMR INSERM U1085, Faculté de Pharmacie, 2 Avenue du Pr Léon Bernard, 35043 Rennes, France. marc.levee@free.fr.
authors.forename: Marc
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Le Vée
authors.affiliation: Centre de Pharmacocinétique, Technologie Servier, 25-27 Rue Eugène Vignat, 45000 Orléans, France. claire.denizot@servier.com.
authors.forename: Claire
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Denizot
authors.affiliation: Centre de Pharmacocinétique, Technologie Servier, 25-27 Rue Eugène Vignat, 45000 Orléans, France. yannick.parmentier@servier.com.
authors.forename: Yannick
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Parmentier
authors.affiliation: Institut de Recherches en Santé, Environnement et Travail (IRSET), UMR INSERM U1085, Faculté de Pharmacie, 2 Avenue du Pr Léon Bernard, 35043 Rennes, France. olivier.fardel@univ-rennes1.fr.|Pôle Biologie, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire, 2 rue Henri le Guilloux, 35033 Rennes, France. olivier.fardel@univ-rennes1.fr.
authors.forename: Olivier
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Fardel
keywords: HuH-7; MRP2; drug transporters; hepatocytes; hepatoma