Prediction of pyrotinib exposure based on physiologically-based pharmacokinetic model and endogenous biomarker

Pyrotinib, a novel irreversible epidermal growth factor receptor dual tyrosine kinase inhibitor, is mainly (about 90%) eliminated through cytochrome P450 (CYP) 3A mediated metabolism in vivo. Meanwhile, genotype is a key factor affecting pyrotinib clearance and 4 beta-hydroxycholesterol is an endogenous biomarker of CYP3A activity that can indirectly reflect the possible pyrotinib exposure. Thus, it is necessary to evaluate the clinical drug-drug interactions (DDI) between CYP3A perpetrators and pyrotinib, understand potential exposure in specific populations including liver impairment and geriatric populations, and explore the possible relationships among pyrotinib exposure, genotypes and endogenous biomarker. Physiologically-based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) model can be used to replace prospective DDI studies and evaluate external and internal factors that may influence system exposure. Herein, a basic PBPK model was firstly developed to evaluate the potential risk of pyrotinib coadministration with strong inhibitor and guide the clinical trial design. Subsequently, the mechanistic PBPK model was established and used to quantitatively estimate the potential DDI risk for other CYP3A modulators, understand the potential exposure of specific populations, including liver impairment and geriatric populations. Meanwhile, the possible relationships among pyrotinib exposure, genotypes and endogenous biomarker were explored. With the help of PBPK model, the DDI clinical trial of pyrotinib coadministration with strong inhibitor has been successfully completed, some DDI clinical trials may be waived based on the predicted results and clinical trials in specific populations can be reasonably designed. Moreover, the mutant genotypes of CYP3A4*18A and CYP3A5*3 were likely to have a limited influence on pyrotinib clearance, and the genotype-independent linear correlation coefficient between endogenous biomarker and system exposure was larger than 0.6. Therefore, based on the reliable predicted results and the linear correlations between pyrotinib exposure and endogenous biomarker, dosage adjustment of pyrotinib can be designed for clinical practice.