In vitro identification of decreased function phenotype ABCG2 variants

Abstract

Reduced activity of efflux transporter ABCG2, caused e.g., by inhibition or decreased function genetic variants, can increase drug absorption and plasma levels. ABCG2 has one clinically significant single nucleotide variant Q141K (c.421C>A), which leads to decreased protein levels and transport activity. In addition to Q141K, ABCG2 has over 500 rare (<1% minor allele frequency) nonsynonymous variants, but their functionality remains unknown. We studied the transport activity and abundance of 30 rare ABCG2 variants. The variants were transiently expressed in HEK293 cells. Transport activity and protein abundance were measured from inside-out crude membrane vesicles. Results were normalised to the reference ABCG2, while Q141K was used to categorise variants into decreased and normal function phenotypes based on their apparent transport activity. Fourteen variants (G80E, D128V, T434M, Q437R, C438R, C438W, C438Y, L479S, P480L, S486N, T512N, S519P, G553D and K647E) had similar or lower apparent transport activity than Q141K and thus were categorised as having a decreased function phenotype. Protein abundance could not explain all of the observed changes in transport activity: Only six variants (D128V, Q437R, C438R, S519P, G553D, and K647E) had similar or lower abundance compared to Q141K. The decreased function variants may increase systemic drug exposure and therefore cause interindividual variability in pharmacokinetics. In the future, in vitro phenotype classification may help to design personalised drug treatments.