The cytochrome P450 (CYP) enzyme family is the most important enzyme system catalyzing the phase 1 metabolism of pharmaceuticals and other xenobiotics such as herbal remedies and toxic compounds in the environment. The inhibition and induction of CYPs are major mechanisms causing pharmacokinetic drug–drug interactions. This review presents a comprehensive update on the inhibitors and inducers of the specific CYP enzymes in humans. The focus is on the more recent human in vitro and in vivo findings since the publication of our previous review on this topic in 2008. In addition to the general presentation of inhibitory drugs and inducers of human CYP enzymes by drugs, herbal remedies, and toxic compounds, an in-depth view on tyrosine-kinase inhibitors and antiretroviral HIV medications as victims and perpetrators of drug–drug interactions is provided as examples of the current trends in the field. Also, a concise overview of the mechanisms of CYP induction is presented to aid the understanding of the induction phenomena.

Although the measurement of metabolite formation or substrate depletion in in vitro systems, from recombinant enzymes to tissue slices, is a relatively routine task, there are a number of more or less unresolved issues in the extrapolation of the enzymatic intrinsic clearance into hepatic metabolic clearance. Nominal concentrations of the drug added to the incubation system are not necessarily the concentration the transporter or the metabolizing enzyme sees. In addition, peculiarities of incubation set-ups should be assessed. Unbound drug fractions (concentrations) in the in vitro system itself should be measured or estimated for the appropriate assessment of enzymatic intrinsic clearance. In addition, blood and/or plasma concentrations to be encountered in the in vivo situation should be measured or estimated for the extrapolation. Extrapolation always means making a number of assumptions and the most important of these, such as scaling factors from recombinant enzymes, microsomes or hepatocytes to the mass unit of the liver, liver weight, blood flow, and distribution volume amongst others, and so on, should be explicitly stated and included in the extrapolation process. Despite all the above-mentioned reservations the in vitro-in vivo extrapolation of metabolic clearance seems to be a useful and mostly fairly precise tool for predicting the important pharmacokinetic processes of a drug.