Progress in the Molecular Characterization of Hepatobiliary Transporters

Over the last 25 years, our understanding of the driving forces for hepatobiliary elimination and knowledge of the molecular basis of uptake and efflux transport in hepatocytes have undergone fundamental changes. This refers to bile acids and many other endogenous substances as well as to drugs that are eliminated on the hepatobiliary route. In this development, not only molecular cloning, functional characterization, and localization of transporters were decisive, but also the discovery of hereditary mutations in genes encoding sinusoidal uptake transporters and canalicular export pumps in humans and rodents. Uptake by passive diffusion and elimination into bile driven by the electrochemical gradient are no longer considered relevant for hepatobiliary elimination in the intact organism. Furthermore, insights into the relative roles of uptake transporters and unidirectional ATP-driven efflux pumps were obtained when we established double-transfected polarized cell lines stably expressing, as an example, the hepatocellular uptake transporter OATP1B3 and the apical (canalicular) efflux pump multidrug resistance protein 2 (MRP2; ABCC2). ATP-dependent efflux transporters localized to the basolateral (sinusoidal) hepatocyte membrane, particularly MRP3 (ABCC3) and MRP4 (ABCC4), pump substances from hepatocytes into sinusoidal blood. Bile acids are substrates for human MRP4 in the presence of physiological concentrations of reduced glutathione, which undergoes co-transport. These efflux pumps have been recognized in recent years to play an important compensatory role in cholestasis and to contribute to the balance between uptake and efflux of bile acids and other organic anions during the vectorial transport from blood into bile. This sinusoidal efflux not only enables subsequent renal elimination but also facilitates the re-uptake of substances into neighboring hepatocytes located more centrally and downstream in the sinusoid.