Abstract

Unraveling the molecular mechanisms by which genetic variants of cytochrome P450 2A6 lead to different metabolic phenotypes remains a long-standing but important challenge. CYP2A6 is an enzyme involved in the metabolism of several clinical drugs as well as the metabolic activation of carcinogenic nitrosamines. Herein, CYP2A6 genotypes and phenotypes, as indicated by protein content [by liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (MS)/MS] and metabolic activities [V_max, clearance (CL)], were determined for 90 human liver samples. We determined the median, range, and interindividual and intraindividual variation of CYP2A6 content and activity at the microsomal, liver tissue, and whole liver level and predicted hepatic in vivo clearance by in vitro–in vivo extrapolation based on CYP2A6-mediated coumarin metabolism by each CYP2A6 genotype. These results reveal how different CYP2A6 genotypes yield different phenotypic traits in protein content and enzyme activity. For relative V_max, CL, and protein content, the intraindividual percentage coefficients of variation (ICVs) were 41.0% (18.8%–125.1%), 28.5% (2.39%–133.5%), and 27.8% (2.68%–88.0%), respectively. The high ICVs implied large intraindividual variation at different levels, sometimes in a genotype-dependent manner. Intergenotype analysis revealed that the CYP2A6*4 allele demonstrated the most obvious effect on phenotypic outcomes, both in protein content and in metabolic activity. Indeed, decreased CYP2A6 protein content with the CYP2A6*4 genotype might explain the decreased metabolic activity from the molecular to the organismal level. These findings may allow useful predictions for CYP2A6-mediated drug metabolism on an individual patient basis in accord with the goal of achieving personalized medicine.