UCN-01 is a promising, novel kinase inhibitor currently undergoing clinical development. Though UCN-01 shows pronounced antitumor activity, its metabolism and hepatic transport system is still unknown. To investigate the biotransformation and biliary excretion of UCN-01, livers of Wistar and Mrp2-deficient TR- rats were perfused with UCN-01 (0.2 µM) in a single pass system. In bile and perfusate, native UCN-01 and 5 novel metabolites (M1-M5) were quantified by HPLC and identified as glucuronides by enzymatic hydrolysis with β-glucuronidase and mass spectroscopy. Cumulative efflux of UCN-01 and its metabolites M1-M5 into perfusate of Wistar rats was low (<0.14%) whereas total biliary excretion was up to 53-fold higher, representing 1.74, 0.54, 0.21, 1.17, 0.85 and 0.52% of infused UCN-01, respectively. After 60 min of perfusion, liver cells still contained ≈95% of applied UCN-01. Biliary excretion greatly differs in TR- rats. While cumulative biliary excretion of UCN-01 and its metabolites M1-M5 was significantly reduced to 8.3, 5.3, 31.8, 10.4, 13.2 and 7.8%, efflux into perfusate was increased up to 2.2-fold. This indicates that in control rats, UCN-01 and its glucuronides are almost exclusively eliminated into bile by Mrp2. In summary, UCN-01 is extensively metabilized in the rat liver to 5 novel glucuronides mainly excreted into bile by Mrp2. Metabolism and biliary excretion of UCN-01 must be taken into consideration also during cancer therapy of patients.

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