Abstract
The significance of transporters in the disposition, metabolism, and elimination of drugs is well recognized. One gap in our knowledge is a comprehensive understanding of how drug transporters change functionality (their amount and activity) in response to disease and how disease and its inevitable pathology change transporter expression. In this issue of Drug Metabolism and Disposition a series of review and primary research articles are presented to highlight the importance of transporters in toxicity and disease. Because of the central role of the liver in drug metabolism, many of the articles in this theme issue focus on transporters in the liver and how pathology or alterations in physiology affects transporter expression. The contributing authors have also considered the role of transporters in drug interactions as well as drug-induced liver injury. Noninvasive approaches to assessing transporter function in vivo are also described. Several articles highlight important issues in oncology where toxicity must be balanced against efficacy. In total, this theme issue will provide a stepping-stone to future studies that will establish a more comprehensive understanding of transporters in disease.
Footnotes
- Received February 5, 2014.
- Accepted February 7, 2014.
This work was supported by the National Institutes of Health National Institute of General Medical Sciences [Grant 2R01GM60964]; National Cancer Institute [Grants P30CA21745 and CA21865]; and by ALSAC.
- Copyright © 2014 by The American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics
DMD articles become freely available 12 months after publication, and remain freely available for 5 years.Non-open access articles that fall outside this five year window are available only to institutional subscribers and current ASPET members, or through the article purchase feature at the bottom of the page.
|