The current study aimed to assess the effect of timosaponin AIII (T-AIII) on drug-metabolizing enzymes during anticancer therapy. The in vivo experiments were conducted on nude and ICR mice. Following a 24-day administration of T-AIII, the nude mice exhibited an induction of CYP2B10, MDR1, and CYP3A11 expression in the liver tissues. In the ICR mice, the expression levels of CYP2B10 and MDR1 increased after a three-day T-AIII administration. The in vitro assessments with HepG2 cells revealed that T-AIII induced the expression of CYP2B6, MDR1, and CYP3A4, along with constitutive androstane receptor (CAR) activation. Treatment with CAR siRNA reversed the T-AIII-induced increases in CYP2B6 and CYP3A4 expression. Furthermore, other CAR target genes also showed a significant increase in the expression. The up-regulation of murine CAR was observed in the liver tissues of both nude and ICR mice. Subsequent findings demonstrated that T-AIII activated CAR by inhibiting ERK1/2 phosphorylation, with this effect being partially reversed by the ERK activator t-BHQ. Inhibition of the ERK1/2 signaling pathway was also observed in vivo. Additionally, T-AIIIinhibited the phosphorylation of EGFR at Tyr1173 and Tyr845, and suppressed EGF-induced phosphorylation of EGFR, ERK, and CAR. In the nude mice, T-AIII also inhibited EGFR phosphorylation. These results collectively indicate that T-AIII is a novel CAR activator through inhibition of the EGFR pathway.
