MRP isoforms and BCRP mediate sulfate conjugate efflux out of BeWo cells

The breast cancer resistance protein (BCRP) and the multidrug resistance-associated proteins (MRPs) have the ability to eliminate sulfate conjugates but it is not known if this constitutes one of their roles in the placenta. To determine this, the BeWo cell line was used as a model of placental trophoblast cells and we examined the mechanisms of elimination of two common sulfotransferase substrates, 4-nitrophenol and acetaminophen. At 0.5–200 μM, neither 4-nitrophenyl sulfate nor acetaminophen sulfate affected the accumulation of the BCRP substrates BODIPY FL prazosin or mitoxantrone in BeWo monolayers, indicating a lack of interaction of BCRP with the sulfates. Efflux studies and bidirectional transport studies examining the effect of BCRP/MRP inhibitors on the efflux of intracellularly generated 4-nitrophenyl sulfate and acetaminophen sulfate, indicated that one or more of the MRP isoforms play a major role in the elimination of 4-nitrophenyl sulfate and acetaminophen sulfate across the basolateral (fetal-facing) and apical (maternal-facing) membranes respectively. BCRP played a minor role in the elimination of these two sulfate conjugates across the apical membrane. Our study shows that a yet undetermined role of trophoblast efflux transporters is the elimination of sulfate conjugates