RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 HUMAN METABOLISM OF THE PROTEASOME INHIBITOR BORTEZOMIB: IDENTIFICATION OF CIRCULATING METABOLITES JF Drug Metabolism and Disposition JO Drug Metab Dispos FD American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics SP 771 OP 777 DO 10.1124/dmd.104.002956 VO 33 IS 6 A1 Teresa Pekol A1 J. Scott Daniels A1 Jason Labutti A1 Ian Parsons A1 Darrell Nix A1 Elizabeth Baronas A1 Frank Hsieh A1 Liang-Shang Gan A1 Gerald Miwa YR 2005 UL http://dmd.aspetjournals.org/content/33/6/771.abstract AB Bortezomib [N-(2,3-pyrazine)carbonyl-l-phenylalanine-l-leucine boronic acid] is a potent first-in-class dipeptidyl boronic acid proteasome inhibitor that was approved in May 2003 in the United States for the treatment of patients with relapsed multiple myeloma where the disease is refractory to conventional lines of therapy. Bortezomib binds the proteasome via the boronic acid moiety, and therefore, the presence of this moiety is necessary to achieve proteasome inhibition. Metabolites in plasma obtained from patients receiving a single intravenous dose of bortezomib were identified and characterized by liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (LC/MS) and liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry (LC/MS/MS). Metabolite standards that were synthesized and characterized by LC/MS/MS and high field nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR) were used to confirm metabolite structures. The principal biotransformation pathway observed was oxidative deboronation, most notably to a pair of diastereomeric carbinolamide metabolites. Further metabolism of the leucine and phenylalanine moieties produced tertiary hydroxylated metabolites and a metabolite hydroxylated at the benzylic position, respectively. Conversion of the carbinolamides to the corresponding amide and carboxylic acid was also observed. Human liver microsomes adequately modeled the in vivo metabolism of bortezomib, as the principal circulating metabolites were observed in vitro. Using cDNA-expressed cytochrome P450 isoenzymes, it was determined that several isoforms contributed to the metabolism of bortezomib, including CYP3A4, CYP2C19, CYP1A2, CYP2D6, and CYP2C9. The development of bortezomib has provided an opportunity to describe the metabolism of a novel boronic acid pharmacophore. The American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics