Providing key knowledge about drug toxicity and effectiveness
Research led by Wayne L. Backes, PhD, Professor of Pharmacology and Associate Dean for Research at LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans School of Medicine, has found that drug metabolism depends not only upon which enzymes are present in an individual, but also how they interact, and that can be the difference in whether a drug is safely eliminated from the body or is converted into a toxic or carcinogenic byproduct. The paper will be published in the March 19, 2010 issue of the Journal of Biological Chemistry.
Dr. Backes and his LSUHSC research colleagues - J. Robert Reed, PhD, Pharmacology Assistant Professor and Marilyn Eyer, Research Associate - have been studying an enzyme called Cytochrome P450 which is responsible for the removal of the majority of drugs from the body by chemically breaking them down into inactive substances or metabolites. There are many different P450 enzymes capable of degrading many different drugs. Because there are so many, there is a high degree of variability in people's responses to a drug.
"Although most P450 reactions lead to metabolites that speed the excretion of drugs and pollutants, sometimes P450 enzymes can lead to the activation of a compound to a metabolite that can cause cancer or toxicity where the initial chemical in the drug does not," notes Dr. Backes. "This is a partial explanation of why some people are more resistant to cancer and other diseases and why it is very important to understand the reasons for the variability in drug metabolism."