TY - JOUR T1 - Multiple SLC and ABC transporters contribute to the placental transfer of entecavir JF - Drug Metabolism and Disposition JO - Drug Metab Dispos DO - 10.1124/dmd.116.073304 SP - dmd.116.073304 AU - Zhiyuan Ma AU - Xi Yang AU - Ting Jiang AU - Mengru Bai AU - Caihong Zheng AU - Su Zeng AU - Dongli Sun AU - Huidi Jiang Y1 - 2017/01/01 UR - http://dmd.aspetjournals.org/content/early/2017/01/06/dmd.116.073304.abstract N2 - Entecavir (ETV), a nucleoside analogue with high efficacy against hepatitis B virus, is recommended as a first-line antiviral drug for the treatment of chronic hepatitis B. However, scant information is available on the use of ETV in pregnancy. To better understand the safety of ETV in pregnant women, we aimed to demonstrate whether ETV could permeate placental barrier and the underlying mechanism. Our study showed that small amount of ETV could permeate across placenta in mice. ETV accumulation in activated or non-activated BeWo cells (treated with or without forskolin) was sharply reduced in the presence of 100 μM of adenosine, cytidine and in Na+ free medium, indicating that nucleoside transporters possibly mediate the uptake of ETV. Furthermore, ETV was proved to be a substrate of concentrative nucleoside transporter (CNT) 2 and CNT3, of organic cation transporter (OCT) 3 and of breast cancer resistance protein (BCRP) using transfected cells expressing respective transporters. The inhibition of ETV uptake in primary human trophoblast cells further confirmed that equilibrative nucleoside transporter (ENT) 1/2, CNT2/3, OCT3 and organic cation/carnitine transporter (OCTN) 2 might be involved in ETV transfer in human placenta. Therefore, ETV uptake from maternal circulation to trophoblast cells was possibly transported by CNT2/3, ENT1/2 and OCTN2, while ETV efflux from trophoblast cells to fetal circulation was mediated by OCT3, and from trophoblast cells to maternal circulation might be mediated by BCRP, multidrug resistance-associated protein 2 and P-glycoprotein. The information obtained in the present study may provide a basis for ETV’s use in pregnancy. ER -