Cytochrome P450 humanised mice.

Humans are exposed to countless foreign compounds, typically referred to as xenobiotics. These can include clinically used drugs, environmental pollutants, food additives, pesticides, herbicides and even natural plant compounds. Xenobiotics are metabolised primarily in the liver, but also in the gut and other organs, to derivatives that are more easily eliminated from the body. In some cases, however, a compound is converted to an electrophile that can cause cell toxicity and transformation leading to cancer. Among the most important xenobiotic-metabolising enzymes are the cytochromes P450 (P450s). These enzymes represent a superfamily of multiple forms that exhibit marked species differences in their expression and catalytic activities. To predict how humans will metabolise xenobiotics, including drugs, human liver extracts and recombinant P450s have been used. New humanised mouse models are being developed which will be of great value in the study of drug metabolism, pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics in vivo, and in carrying out human risk assessment of xenobiotics. Humanised mice expressing CYP2D6 and CYP3A4, two major drug-metabolising P450s, have revealed the feasibility of this approach.