Metabolic transformations of antitumor imidazoacridinone, C-1311, with microsomal fractions of rat and human liver

The imidazoacridinone derivative C-1311 is an antitumor agent in Phase II clinical trials. The molecular mechanism of enzymatic oxidation of this compound in a peroxidase model system was reported earlier. The present studies were performed to elucidate the role of rat and human liver enzymes in metabolic transformations of this drug. C-1311 was incubated with different fractions of liver cells and the reaction mixtures were analyzed by RP-HPLC. We showed that the drug was more sensitive to metabolism with microsomes than with cytosol or S9 fraction of rat liver cells. Incubation of C-1311 with microsomes revealed the presence of four metabolites. Their structures were identified as dealkylation product, M0, as well as a dimer-like molecule, M1. Furthermore, we speculate that the hydroxyl group was most likely substituted in metabolite M3. It is of note that a higher rate of transformation was observed for rat than for human microsomes. However, the differences in metabolite amounts were specific for each metabolite. The reactivity of C-1311 with rat microsomes overexpressing P450 isoenzymes, of CYP3A and CYP4A families was higher than that with CYP1A and CYP2B. Moreover, the M1 metabolite was selectively formed with CYP3A, whereas M3 with CYP4A. In conclusion, this study revealed that C-1311 varied in susceptibility to metabolic transformation in rat and human cells and showed selectivity in the metabolism with P450 isoenzymes. The obtained results could be useful for preparing the schedule of individual directed therapy with C-1311 in future patients