Publications

Non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) is characterized by lipotoxicity, inflammation and fibrosis, ultimately leading to end-stage liver disease. The molecular mechanisms promoting NASH are poorly understood, and treatment options are limited. Here, we demonstrate that hepatic expression of bone morphogenetic protein 8B (BMP8B), a member of the transforming growth factor beta (TGFβ)–BMP superfamily, increases proportionally to disease stage in people and animal models with NASH. BMP8B signals via both SMAD2/3 and SMAD1/5/9 branches of the TGFβ–BMP pathway in hepatic stellate cells (HSCs), promoting their proinflammatory phenotype. In vivo, the absence of BMP8B prevents HSC activation, reduces inflammation and affects the wound-healing responses, thereby limiting NASH progression. Evidence is featured in primary human 3D microtissues modelling NASH, when challenged with recombinant BMP8. Our data show that BMP8B is a major contributor to NASH progression. Owing to the near absence of BMP8B in healthy livers, inhibition of BMP8B may represent a promising new therapeutic avenue for NASH treatment.

Background: Even after several decades of human drug development, there remains an absence of published, substantial, comprehensive data to validate the use of animals in preclinical drug testing, and to point to their predictive nature with regard to human safety/toxicity and efficacy. Two recent papers, authored by pharmaceutical industry scientists, added to the few substantive publications that exist. In this brief article, we discuss both these papers, as well as our own series of three papers on the subject, and also various views and criticisms of lobby groups that advocate the animal testing of new drugs.

Main text: We argue that there still remains no published evidence to support the current regulatory paradigm of animal testing in supporting safe entry to clinical trials. In fact, the data in these recent studies, as well as in our own studies, support the contention that tests on rodents, dogs and monkeys provide next to no evidential weight to the probability of there being a lack of human toxicity, when there is no apparent toxicity in the animals.

Conclusion: Based on these data, and in particular on this finding, it must be concluded that animal drug tests are therefore not fit for their stated purpose. At the very least, it is now incumbent on—and we very much encourage—the pharmaceutical industry and its regulators to commission, conduct and/or facilitate further independent studies involving the use of substantial proprietary data. Keywords: Animal testing, Translational, Nonclinical, Clinical, Safety, Concordance

ABSTRACT: The blood−brain barrier (BBB) maintains brain homeostasis by controlling traffic of molecules from the circulation into the brain. This function is predominantly dependent on proteins expressed at the BBB, especially transporters and tight junction proteins. Alterations to the level and function of BBB proteins can impact the susceptibility of the central nervous system to exposure to xenobiotics in the systemic circulation with potential consequent effects on brain function. In this study, expression profiles of drug transporters and solute carriers in the BBB were assessed in tissues from healthy individuals (n = 12), Alzheimer’s patients (n = 5), and dementia with Lewy bodies patients (n = 5), using targeted, accurate mass retention time (AMRT) and global proteomic methods. A total of 53 transporters were quantified, 19 for the first time in the BBB. A further 20 novel transporters were identified but not quantified. The global proteomic method identified another 3333 BBB proteins. Transporter abundances, taken together with the scaling factor, microvessel protein content per unit tissue (BMvPGB also measured here), can be used in quantitative systems pharmacology models predicting drug disposition in the brain and permitting dose adjustment (precision dosing) in special populations of patients, such as those with dementia. Even in this small study, we see differences in transporter profile between healthy and diseased brain tissue. KEYWORDS: blood−brain barrier (BBB), Alzheimer’s disease (AD), dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB), solute carrier (SLC) and ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporters

ABSTRACT: There is an urgent need (recognized in FDA guidance, 2018) to optimize the dose of medicines given to patients for maximal drug efficacy and limited toxicity (precision dosing), which can be facilitated by quantitative systems pharmacology (QSP) models. Accurate quantification of proteins involved in drug clearance is essential to build and improve QSP models for any target population. Here we describe application of label-free proteomics in microsomes from 23 human livers to simultaneously quantify 188 enzymes and 66 transporters involved in xenobiotic disposition, including 17 cytochrome P450s (CYPs), 10 UDP-glucuronosyltransferases (UGTs), 7 ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporters, and 11 solute carrier (SLC) transporters; six of these proteins are quantified for the first time. The methodology allowed quantification of thousands of proteins, allowing estimation of sample purity and understanding of global patterns of protein expression. There was overall good agreement with targeted quantification and enzyme activity data, where this was available. The effects of sex, age, genotype, and BMI on enzyme and transporter expression were assessed. Decreased expression of enzymes and transporters with increasing BMI was observed, but a tendency for older donors to have higher BMIs may have confounded this result. The effect of genotype on enzymes expression was, however, clear-cut, with CYP3A5*1/*3 genotype expressed 16-fold higher compared with its mostly inactive *3/*3 counterpart. Despite the complex, time-consuming data analysis required for label-free methodology, the advantages of the label-free method make it a valuable approach to populate a broad range of system parameters simultaneously for target patients within pharmacology and toxicology models.
KEYWORDS: human liver microsomes, cytochrome P450, uridine 5′-diphosphate-glucuronosyltransferase, ATP-binding cassette transporters, solute carrier transporters, label-free proteomics

Abstract
The blood–brain barrier (BBB) maintains brain homeostasis by tightly regulating the exchange of molecules with systemic circulation. It consists primarily of microvascular endothelial cells surrounded by astrocytic endfeet, pericytes, and microglia. Understanding the make‐up of transporters in rat BBB is essential to the translation of pharmacological and toxicological observations into humans. In this study, experimental workflows are presented in which the optimization of (a) isolation of rat brain microvessels (b) enrichment of endothelial cells, and (c) extraction and digestion of proteins were evaluated, followed by identification and quantification of BBB proteins. Optimization of microvessel isolation was indicated by 15‐fold enrichment of endothelial cell marker Glut1 mRNA, whereas markers for other cell types were not enriched. Filter‐aided sample preparation was shown to be superior to in‐solution sample preparation (10251 peptides vs. 7533 peptides). Label‐free proteomics was used to identify nearly 2000 proteins and quantify 1276 proteins in isolated microvessels. A combination of targeted and global proteomics was adopted to measure protein abundance of 6 ATP‐binding cassette and 27 solute carrier transporters. Data analysis using proprietary Progenesis and open access MaxQuant software showed overall agreement; however, Abcb9 and Slc22a8 were quantified only by MaxQuant, whereas Abcc9 and Abcd3 were quantified only by Progenesis. Agreement between targeted and untargeted quantification was demonstrated for Abcb1 (19.7 ± 1.4 vs. 17.8 ± 2.3) and Abcc4 (2.2 ± 0.7 vs. 2.1 ± 0.4), respectively. Rigorous quantification of BBB proteins, as reported in this study, should assist with translational modeling efforts involving brain disposition of xenobiotics.