The potential inhibitory effect of quercetin, a major plant flavonol, on breast cancer resistance protein (BCRP) activity was investigated in this study. The presence of quercetin significantly increased the cellular accumulation and associated cytotoxicity of the BCRP substrate mitoxantrone in human cervical cancer cells (HeLa cells) in a concentration-dependent manner. The transcellular efflux of prazosin, a stereotypical BCRP substrate, was also significantly reduced in the presence of quercetin in a bidirectional transport assay using human BCRP-overexpressing cells; further kinetic analysis revealed IC₅₀ and Ki values of 4.22 and 3.91 μM, respectively. Moreover, pretreatment with 10 mg/kg quercetin in rats led to a 1.8-fold and 1.5-fold increase in the AUC_8h (i.e., 44.5 ± 11.8 min∙μg/mL vs. 25.7 ± 9.98 min∙μg/mL, p < 0.05) and C_max (i.e., 179 ± 23.0 ng/mL vs. 122 ± 23.2 ng/mL, p < 0.05) of orally administered sulfasalazine, respectively. Collectively, these results provide evidence that quercetin acts as an in vivo as well as in vitro inhibitor of BCRP. Considering the high dietary intake of quercetin as well as its consumption as a dietary supplement, issuing a caution regarding its food–drug interactions should be considered.

Fexuprazan is a new drug candidate in the potassium-competitive acid blocker (P-CAB) family. As proton pump inhibitors (PPIs), P-CABs inhibit gastric acid secretion and can be used to treat gastric acid-related disorders such as gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). Physiologically based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) models predict drug interactions as pharmacokinetic profiles in biological matrices can be mechanistically simulated. Here, we propose an optimized and validated PBPK model for fexuprazan by integrating in vitro, in vivo, and in silico data. The extent of fexuprazan tissue distribution in humans was predicted using tissue-to-plasma partition coefficients in rats and the allometric relationships of fexuprazan distribution volumes (V_SS) among preclinical species. Urinary fexuprazan excretion was minimal (0.29–2.02%), and this drug was eliminated primarily by the liver and metabolite formation. The fraction absorbed (Fa) of 0.761, estimated from the PBPK modeling, was consistent with the physicochemical properties of fexuprazan, including its in vitro solubility and permeability. The predicted oral bioavailability of fexuprazan (38.4–38.6%) was within the range of the preclinical datasets. The C_max, AUC_last, and time-concentration profiles predicted by the PBPK model established by the learning set were accurately predicted for the validation sets.