Discovery of selective glucocorticoid receptor modulator MK-5932.

A series of partial agonists of the Glucocorticoid Receptor were prepared targeting reduced transactivation activity, while maintaining significant transrepression activity. Incorporation of an ortho-aryl amide produced compounds with the desired in vitro profile. Bioreactors consisting of Suspension cultures of Sf21 cells co expressing a CYP3A4 and NADPH-cytochrome P450 oxireductase were used to prepare the major metabolites of these compounds and revealed that oxidative N-dealkylation provided a pathway for formation of metabolites that were more agonistic than the parent partial agonists.

Characterization of the rhesus monkey CYP3A64 enzyme: species comparisons of CYP3A substrate specificity and kinetics using baculovirus-expressed recombinant enzymes.

The rhesus monkey (Macaca mulatta) is a primate species used extensively as a preclinical safety species in drug development. In this report, we describe the cloning, expression, and characterization of CYP3A64 (AY334551), a CYP3A4 homolog expressed in rhesus liver. The deduced amino acid sequence was found to be 93% similar to human CYP3A4, 83% similar to human CYP3A5, and identical to the previously reported cynomolgus monkey CYP3A8 (Komori et al.

Broad substrate specificity of human cytochrome P450 46A1 which initiates cholesterol degradation in the brain.

The known activity of cytochrome P450 46A1 (P450 46A1) is 24(S)-hydroxylation of cholesterol. This reaction produces biologically active oxysterol, 24(S)-hydroxycholesterol, and is also the first step in enzymatic degradation of cholesterol in the brain. We report here that P450 46A1 can further metabolize 24(S)-hydroxycholesterol, giving 24,25- and 24,27-dihydroxycholesterols in both the cell cultures transfected with P450 46A1 cDNA and the in vitro reconstituted system with recombinant enzyme.

Substrate specificity and kinetic properties of seven heterologously expressed dog cytochromes p450.

Seven dog cytochromes p450 (p450s) were heterologously expressed in baculovirus-Sf21 insect cells. Of all enzymes examined, CYP1A1 exhibited high 7-ethoxyresorufin O-deethylase activity (low Km enzyme, 1 microM). CYP2B11 and CYP3A12 effectively catalyzed the N1-demethylation and C3-hydroxylation of diazepam (and its derivatives), whereas CYP3A12 and CYP2D15 catalyzed exclusively the N- and O-demethylation, respectively, of dextromethorphan.