Abstract

The effects of treatment with the 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A reductase (HMG-CoA reductase) inhibitors lovastatin, simvastatin, pravastatin, fluvastatin, and atorvastatin on the contents of cytochrome P450 mRNAs were examined in primary cultures of human hepatocytes prepared from three different livers. Treatment of 2- to 3-day-old human hepatocyte cultures with 3 × 10⁻⁵ M lovastatin, simvastatin, fluvastatin, or atorvastatin for 24 h increased the amounts of CYP2B6 and CYP3A mRNA by an average of 3.8- to 9.2-fold and 24- to 36-fold, respectively. In contrast, pravastatin treatment had no effect on the mRNA level of either CYP2B6 or CYP3A, although treatment with pravastatin did produce the expected compensatory increase in HMG-CoA reductase mRNA content, indicating effective inhibition of cholesterol biosynthesis. Although treatment with the active (+), but not the inactive (−), enantiomer of atorvastatin increased the amount of HMG-CoA reductase mRNA, treatment with each enantiomer significantly induced both CYP2B6 and CYP3A mRNA levels. Treatment of primary cultured rat hepatocytes with the atorvastatin enantiomers effectively increased the amount of CYP3A mRNA, but had no effect on CYP2B or CYP4A mRNA levels, in contrast to fluvastatin, which increased both. Findings for P450 proteins by Western blotting were consistent with the mRNA results. These findings indicate that the ability of a drug to inhibit HMG-CoA reductase activity does not predict its ability to produce P450 induction in primary cultured human hepatocytes, and demonstrate that some, but not all, of the effects of these drugs that occur in primary cultured rat hepatocytes are conserved in human hepatocyte cultures.