New insights into drug absorption: studies with sirolimus

Sirolimus is a recently marketed immunosuppressant that, in common with cyclosporine and tacrolimus, exhibits a low average oral bioavailability (approximately 20%). Likewise, sirolimus is a substrate for the major drug-metabolizing enzyme cytochrome P450 3A4 (CYP3A4) and the efflux transporter P-glycoprotein (P-gp), both of which are expressed in close proximity in epithelial cells lining the small intestine. Using CYP3A4-expressing Caco-2 cell monolayers, we examined the interplay between metabolism and transport on the intestinal first-pass extraction of sirolimus. Modified Caco-2 cells metabolized [14C]sirolimus to the same CYP3A4-mediated metabolites as human small intestinal and liver microsomes. [14C]Sirolimus also degraded to the known ring-opened product, seco-sirolimus. A ring-opened dihydro species (M2) was, surprisingly, the major product detected in cells at all sirolimus concentrations examined (2-100 micromol/L) and in incubations with human liver and intestinal homogenates but not in corresponding microsomes. M2 formation was NADPH-dependent but unaffected by prototypical CYP3A4 inhibitors. Although M2 was formed from purified seco-sirolimus (20 micromol/L) in the homogenates, it was not detected in cells when seco-sirolimus was added to the apical compartment because seco-sirolimus was essentially impermeable to the apical membrane. Sirolimus, seco-sirolimus (basolaterally dosed), and M2 were all secreted across the apical membrane, and secretion of each was inhibited by the P-gp inhibitor LY335979 (zosuquidar trihydrochloride). Along with CYP3A4-mediated metabolism and P-gp-mediated efflux, a novel elimination pathway was identified that may also contribute to the first-pass extraction, and hence low oral bioavailability, of sirolimus. This new insight into the intestinal elimination of sirolimus, which was not identified using traditional drug metabolism/transport screening methods, may represent another source for the limited absorption of sirolimus.