Impact of the haplotypes of the human pregnane X receptor gene on the basal and St John's wort‐induced activity of cytochrome P450 3A4 enzyme

WHAT IS ALREADY KNOWN ABOUT THIS SUBJECT: Human pregnane X receptor (PXR/NR1I2) is a key regulator of cytochrome P450 3A4. To date, there are 198 reported SNPs for the human PXR/NR1I2 gene. Some of these SNPs are found to affect the inducing ability of PXR to CYP3A4. WHAT THIS STUDY ADDS: This study, for the first time, has investigated the effect of PXR haplotype on basal and St John's wort-induced CYP3A4 activity in humans. H1/H1 of the PXR gene had weaker basal transcriptional activity but greater inducible transcriptional activity to CYP3A4 than H1/H2 and H2/H2. AIMS: Human pregnane X receptor (PXR/NR1I2) is the master regulator of CYP3A4, which metabolizes >50% of drugs on the market. This study investigated the relationship between the two most frequent haplotypes [H1 (TCAGGGGCCACC) and H2 (CCGAAAACTAAT)] of PXR and basal and St John's wort (SJW)-induced CYP3A4 activity. METHODS: Ten healthy subjects carrying H1 and H2 haplotypes (three subjects with H1/H1, four with H1/H2 and three with H2/H2) entered this study. The 10 subjects did not carry CYP3A4*4, *5 and *6. All subjects were administrated a 300-mg SJW tablet three times daily for 14 days, and CYP3A4 activity was measured using nifedipine (NIF) as a probe. The plasma concentrations of NIF and dehydronifedipine (DNIF) were determined by a validated liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry/mass spectrometry method. RESULTS: After administration of SJW, the AUC(0-infinity) of NIF decreased significantly, and the AUC(0-infinity) of DNIF increased significantly (P < 0.05). For H1/H2, the AUC(0-infinity) of NIF decreased by 42.4%, and the AUC(0-infinity) of DNIF increased by 20.2%; for H2/H2, the AUC(0-infinity) of NIF decreased by 47.9%, and the AUC(0-infinity) of DNIF increased by 33.0%; for H1/H1, the AUC(0-infinity) of NIF decreased by 29.0%, yet the AUC(0-infinity) of DNIF increased by 106.7%. The increase of the AUC(0-infinity) of DNIF in H1/H1 was significantly different from the other two haplotype pairs (P < 0.05). Meanwhile, before administration of SJW, the ratio of AUC(0-infinity(DNIF))/AUC(0-infinity(NIF)) was the lowest for H1/H1 (22.1%), compared with H1/H2 (58.7%) and H2/H2 (30.0%). CONCLUSIONS: H1/H1 of the human PXR gene had weaker basal transcriptional activity but greater inducible transcriptional activity to CYP3A4 than H1/H2 and H2/H2.