Inhibitory effects of drugs on the metabolic activity of mouse and human aldehyde oxidases and influence on drug–drug interactions

As aldehyde oxidase (AOX) plays an emerging role in drug metabolism, understanding its significance for drug–drug interactions (DDI) is important. Therefore, we tested 10 compounds for species-specific and substrate-dependent differences in the inhibitory effect of AOX activity using genetically engineered HEK293 cells over-expressing human AOX1, mouse AOX1 or mouse AOX3. The IC50 values of 10 potential inhibitors of the three AOX enzymes were determined using phthalazine and O6-benzylguanine as substrates. 17β-Estradiol, menadione, norharmane and raloxifene exhibited marked differences in inhibitory effects between the human and mouse AOX isoforms when the phthalazine substrate was used. Some of the compounds tested exhibited substrate-dependent differences in their inhibitory effects. Docking simulations with human AOX1 and mouse AOX3 were conducted for six representative inhibitors. The rank order of the minimum binding energy reflected the order of the corresponding IC50 values. We also evaluated the potential DDI between an AOX substrate (O6-benzylguanine) and an inhibitor (hydralazine) using chimeric mice with humanized livers. Pretreatment of hydralazine increased the maximum plasma concentration (Cmax) and the area under the plasma concentration-time curve (AUC0–24) of O6-benzylguanine compared to single administration. Our in vitro data indicate species-specific and substrate-dependent differences in the inhibitory effects on AOX activity. Our in vivo data demonstrate the existence of a DDI which may be of relevance in the clinical context.