Drug transport and metabolism characteristics of the human airway epithelial cell line Calu-3.

Pulmonary drug delivery serves two purposes, namely the application of locally active compounds for treatment of diseases afflicting the lung, and the utilization of the pulmonary epithelia as absorption sites for macromolecular drugs. To elucidate the mechanisms involved in the pulmonary absorption and metabolism of compounds on a cellular level, cell culture models have shown to be, though limited, rather useful in predicting in vivo conditions. The Calu-3 cell line has been employed recently as a model for the airway epithelium in a number of drug transport and metabolism studies. The results of these studies, as well as an evaluation of the predictive potency of the model, are presented here. Copyright 2002 Elsevier Science B.V.