Affiliation of authors: R. H. J. Mathijssen, J. Verweij, P. de Bruijn, W. J. Loos, A. Sparreboom, Department of Medical Oncology, Erasmus MCDaniel den Hoed Cancer Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
Correspondence to: Alex Sparreboom, Ph.D., Department of Medical Oncology, Erasmus MCDaniel den Hoed Cancer Center, Groene Hilledijk 301, 3075 EA Rotterdam, The Netherlands (e-mail: alexsparreboom{at}hotmail.com).
ABSTRACT
St. John's wort (SJW), a widely used herbal product, has been implicated in drug interactions resulting from the induced expression of the cytochrome P450 CYP3A4 isoform. In this study, we determined the effect of SJW on the metabolism of irinotecan, a pro-drug of SN-38 and a known substrate for CYP3A4. Five cancer patients were treated with irinotecan (350 mg/m2, intravenously) in the presence and absence of SJW (900 mg daily, orally for 18 days) in an unblinded, randomized crossover study design. The plasma levels of the active metabolite SN-38 decreased by 42% (95% confidence interval [CI] = 14% to 70%) following SJW cotreatment with 1.0 µM x h (95% CI = 0.34 µM x h to 1.7 µM x h) versus 1.7 µM x h (95% CI = 0.83 µM x h to 2.6 µM x h) (P = .033, two-sided paired Student's t test). Consequently, the degree of myelosuppression was substantially worse in the absence of SJW. These findings indicate that patients on irinotecan treatment should refrain from taking SJW because plasma levels of SN-38 were dramatically reduced, which may have a deleterious impact on treatment outcome.
We evaluated the potential of SJW to affect plasma concentrations of SN-38 in a group of cancer patients treated with irinotecan in an unblinded, randomized crossover study design, with and without SJW coadministration. The clinical protocol was approved by the Erasmus MC Ethics Board, and all patients signed informed consent forms before study entry. Irinotecan was administered once every 3 weeks as a 90-minute continuous intravenous infusion at a dose of 350 mg/m2. Fourteen days before the start of the first or second irinotecan administration, patients received one SJW tablet (300 mg; Bio Nutrition Health Products, Den Bosch, The Netherlands) three times a day (i.e., one tablet with each meal). The patients continued this comedication while receiving the irinotecan therapy and stopped 4 days after irinotecan dosing. Patients were asked to abstain from alcohol, caffeine, grapefruit juice, other herbal dietary supplements, and/or substances known to influence the expression of CYP3A4 for a period of 2 weeks before the first irinotecan administration up to 3 weeks after the second irinotecan administration. Blood sampling, drug analyses, and pharmacokinetic parameter calculations were performed as described (13,14). Data are presented as mean value with 95% confidence intervals (CIs), and statistical calculations were performed on the Number Cruncher Statistical System (NCSS), version 5.X (J. L. Hintze, East Kaysville, UT).
There were five evaluable patients: two men and three women, with a median age of 58 years (range = 5466 years) and a median World Health Organization (WHO) performance score of 1 (range = 01) (http://www.who.int/home-page/). All five completed the study within the scheduled time without delay. Two patients had colorectal cancer, two had lung cancer, and one had sarcoma. Clinically, irinotecan-induced neutropenia, as measured by a decrease in the number of circulating neutrophils, was the most prominent side effect, and the spectrum of side effects was unchanged by SJW. The degree of myelosuppression differed substantially between the treatment course with irinotecan alone and the combination course with irinotecan and SJW. At nadir, leukocyte and neutrophil counts decreased 56% (95% CI = 32% to 80%) and 63% (95% CI = 48% to 78%), respectively, during the course with irinotecan alone but decreased only 8.6% (95% CI = 0% to 29%) and 4.3% (95% CI = 0% to 20%), respectively, during the combination course with irinotecan and SJW.
We next measured the levels of the active irinotecan metabolite SN-38 and its CYP3A4-mediated detoxified metabolite 7-ethyl-10-[4-N-(5-aminopentanoic acid)-1-piperidino]-carbonyl-oxycamptothecin (APC). Compared with courses of irinotecan alone, the area under the curve (AUC) of SN-38 decreased by 42% (95% CI = 14% to 70%) in the combination course with irinotecan and SJW from 1.7 µM x h (95% CI = 0.83 µM x h to 2.6 µM x h) to 1.0 µM x h (95% CI = 0.34 µM x h to 1.7 µM x h) (P = .033, two-sided Student's t test; Fig. 1 and Table 1
). Surprisingly, the AUC ratio of APC to irinotecan was also reduced by 28% (95% CI = 0% to 80%) in the combination course with irinotecan and SJW, although this reduction was not statistically significant. This result suggests that the induction of CYP3A4 expression results in the formation of presently unknown metabolites other than APC (15), as has been described previously (16) in pediatric high-grade glioma patients treated with irinotecan and CYP3A4-inducing anticonvulsants. Alternatively, the lack of effect on APC might be attributed to the fact that during both treatment courses, patients were receiving dexamethasone. Dexamethasone is another known inducer of CYP3A4 expression and might already stimulate APC formation during the course without SJW cotreatment (17). In the liver, SN-38 can be metabolized to a glucuronic acid conjugate (SN-38G), a process that is catalyzed by uridine diphosphate glucuronosyltransferases (UGTs). The rate of SN-38 glucuronidation (i.e., the AUC ratio of SN-38G to SN-38) was not influenced by SJW (Table 1
), suggesting that increased glucuronidation through the induction of UGT was not contributing to the reduced SN-38 levels.
|
|
It has also been proposed that induction of MDR1 P-glycoprotein expression may be a component of the mechanism for interactions between several other drugs and SJW (11). Preclinical studies have shown that biliary transport of SN-38 is unchanged in mice lacking mdr1-type P-glycoprotein, which suggests no major role of MDR1 P-glycoprotein in the elimination of SN-38 in patients (20). These observations, together with our current observation that the half-lives of SN-38 are unchanged in the presence and absence of SJW coadministration (Table 1), make it unlikely that MDR1 P-glycoprotein is involved in the observed interaction. This is because a prominent role of MDR1 P-glycoprotein in the interaction would be associated with increased biliary transport of SN-38, resulting in a decreased half-life of SN-38 in plasma.
Overall, our findings suggest that irinotecan metabolism and toxicity are altered by SJW and that the two agents cannot be given safely in combination without compromising overall antitumor activity. We expect that the results presented here for irinotecan are representative of other anticancer drugs that are at least partial substrates for CYP3A4. This hypothesis is supported by recent observations that the pharmacokinetics of several commonly used agents, including taxanes [e.g., paclitaxel (21)] and camptothecines [e.g., irinotecan (22) and topotecan (23)], are altered in patients on anticonvulsants as a result of CYP3A4 induction, which leads to increased dose requirements to achieve similar pharmacologic effects. Until specific dosing guidelines are available, it is strongly recommended that patients receiving chemotherapeutic treatments with such agents refrain from taking SJW.
REFERENCES
1 Ernst E. A primer of complementary and alternative medicine commonly used by cancer patients. Med J Aust 2001;174:8892.[Medline]
2 Fetrow CW, Avila JR, editors. Professional's handbook of complementary and alternative medicines. Springhouse (PA): Springhouse; 1999.
3 Schrader E. Equivalence of St. John's wort extract (Ze 117) and fluoxetine: a randomized, controlled study in mildmoderate depression. Int Clin Psychopharmacol 2000;15:618.[Medline]
4 Stevinson C, Ernst E. Hypericum for depression. An update of the clinical evidence. Eur Neuropsychopharmacol 1999;9:5015.[Medline]
5 Johne A, Schmider J, Brockmoller J, Stadelmann AM, Stormer E, Bauer S, et al. Decreased plasma levels of amitriptyline and its metabolites on comedication with an extract from St. John's wort (Hypericum perforatum). J Clin Psychopharmacol 2002;22:4654.[Medline]
6 Ruschitzka F, Meier PJ, Turina M, Luscher TF, Noll G. Acute heart transplant rejection due to Saint John's wort. Lancet 2000;355:5489.[Medline]
7 Johne A, Brockmoller J, Bauer S, Maurer A, Langheinrich M, Roots I. Pharmacokinetic interaction of digoxin with an herbal extract from St. John's wort (Hypericum perforatum). Clin Pharmacol Ther 1999;66:33845.[Medline]
8 Piscitelli SC, Burstein AH, Chaitt D, Alfaro RM, Falloon J. Indinavir concentrations and St. John's wort. Lancet 2000;355:5478.[Medline]
9 Ernst E. Second thoughts about safety of St. John's wort. Lancet 1999;354:20146.[Medline]
10 Roby CA, Anderson GD, Kantor E, Dryer DA, Burstein AH. St. John's Wort: effect on CYP3A4 activity. Clin Pharmacol Ther 2000;67:4517.[Medline]
11 Durr D, Stieger B, Kullak-Ublick GA, Rentsch KM, Steinert HC, Meier PJ, et al. St. John's Wort induces intestinal P-glycoprotein and hepatic CYP3A4. Clin Pharmacol Ther 2000;68:598604.[Medline]
12 Mathijssen RH, van Alphen RJ, Verweij J, Loos WJ, Nooter K, Stoter G, et al. Clinical pharmacokinetics and metabolism of irinotecan (CPT-11). Clin Cancer Res 2001;7:218294.
13 Sparreboom A, de Jonge MJ, de Bruijn P, Brouwer E, Nooter K, Loos WJ, et al. Irinotecan (CPT-11) metabolism and disposition in cancer patients. Clin Cancer Res 1998;4:274754.[Abstract]
14 Rivory LP, Haaz MC, Canal P, Lokiec F, Armand JP, Robert J. Pharmacokinetic interrelationships of irinotecan (CPT-11) and its three major plasma metabolites in patients enrolled in phase I/II trials. Clin Cancer Res 1997;3:12616.[Abstract]
15 Sai K, Kaniwa N, Ozawa S, Sawada JI. A new metabolite of irinotecan in which formation is mediated by human hepatic cytochrome P-450 3A4. Drug Metab Dispos 2001;29:150515.
16 Gajjar AJ, Radomski KM, Bowers DC, Chintagumpala MM, Thompson SJ, Houghton PJ, et al. Pharmacokinetics of irinotecan (IRN) and metabolites in pediatric high-grade glioma patients with and without co-administration of enzyme-inducing anticonvulsants. Proc ASCO 2000;19:162a.
17 McCune JS, Hawke RL, LeCluyse EL, Gillenwater HH, Hamilton G, Ritchie J, et al. In vivo and in vitro induction of human cytochrome P4503A4 by dexamethasone. Clin Pharmacol Ther 2000;68:35666.[Medline]
18 Markowitz JS, DeVane CL, Boulton DW, Carson SW, Nahas Z, Risch SC. Effect of St. John's wort (Hypericum perforatum) on cytochrome P-450 2D6 and 3A4 activity in healthy volunteers. Life Sci 2000;66:PL1339.[Medline]
19 Burstein AH, Horton RL, Dunn T, Alfaro RM, Piscitelli SC, Theodore W. Lack of effect of St. John's Wort on carbamazepine pharmacokinetics in healthy volunteers. Clin Pharmacol Ther 2000;68:60512.[Medline]
20 Iyer L, Ramirez J, Shepard DR, Bingham CM, Hossfeld DK, Ratain MJ, et al. Biliary transport of irinotecan and metabolites in normal and P-glycoprotein-deficient mice. Cancer Chemother Pharmacol 2002;49:33641.[Medline]
21 Chang SM, Kuhn JG, Rizzo J, Robins HI, Schold SC Jr, Spence AM, et al. Phase I study of paclitaxel in patients with recurrent malignant glioma: a North American Brain Tumor Consortium report. J Clin Oncol 1998;16:218894.[Abstract]
22 Friedman HS, Petros WP, Friedman AH, Schaaf LJ, Kerby T, Lawyer J, et al. Irinotecan therapy in adults with recurrent or progressive malignant glioma. J Clin Oncol 1999;17:151625.
23 Zamboni WC, Gajjar AJ, Heideman RL, Beijnen JH, Rosing H, Houghton PJ, et al. Phenytoin alters the disposition of topotecan and N-desmethyl topotecan in a patient with medulloblastoma. Clin Cancer Res 1998;4:7839.[Abstract]
Manuscript received April 24, 2002; revised June 12, 2002; accepted June 14, 2002.
This article has been cited by other articles in HighWire Press-hosted journals:
![]() |
||||
|
Oxford University Press Privacy Policy and Legal Statement |