Impact of genetic polymorphisms of transporters on the pharmacokinetic, pharmacodynamic and toxicological properties of anionic drugs.

As the importance of drug transporters in the clinical pharmacokinetics of drugs is recognized, genetic polymorphisms of drug transporters have emerged as one of the determinant factors to produce the inter-individual variability of pharmacokinetics. Many clinical studies have shown the influence of genetic polymorphisms of drug transporters on the pharmacokinetics and subsequent pharmacological and toxicological effects of drugs. The functional change in a transporter in clearance organs such as liver and kidney affects the drug concentration in the blood circulation, while that in the pharmacological or toxicological target can alter the local concentration at the target sites without changing its plasma concentration. As for the transporters for organic anions, some single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) or haplotypes occurring with high frequency in organic anion transporting polypeptide (OATP) 1B1, multidrug resistance 1 (MDR1), and breast cancer resistance protein (BCRP) have been extensively investigated in both human clinical studies and in vitro functional assays. We introduce some examples showing the relationship between haplotypes in transporters and pharmacokinetics and pharmacological effects of drugs. We also discuss how to predict the effect of functional changes in drug transporters caused by genetic polymorphisms on the pharmacokinetics of drugs from in vitro data.