Inhibitory Potential of Bilobetin Against CYP2J2 Activities in Human Liver Microsomes

Abstract

Cytochrome P450 2J2 (CYP2J2) is a member of the cytochrome P450 superfamily, and is known to be arachidonic acid epoxygenase that mediates the formation of four bioactive regioisomers of epoxyeicosatrienoic acids (EETs). CYP2J2 is also involved in the metabolism of drugs such as albendazole, astemizole, danazol, ebastine, and terfenadine. CYP2J2 is highly expressed in the heart and cancer tissues. In this study, the inhibitory potential of ten natural products against CYP2J2 activity was evaluated using human liver microsomes and tandem mass spectrometry. Among them, bilobetin, which is a kind of biflavonoid, exhibits a strong inhibitory effect against the CYP2J2-mediated astemizole O-demethylation (IC50 = 0.73 μM) and terfenadine hydroxylation (IC50 = 0.89 μM). This result suggests that bilobetin can be used as strong CYP2J2 inhibitor in drug metabolism study.