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Visual demonstration of how to derive IC50 value: Arrange data with inhibition on vertical axis and log(concentration) on horizontal axis; then identify max and min inhibition; then the IC50 is the concentration at which the curve passes through the 50% inhibition level.

The half maximal inhibitory concentration (IC₅₀) is a measure of the potency of a substance in inhibiting a specific biological or biochemical function.

This quantitative measure indicates how much of a particular drug or other substance (inhibitor) is needed to inhibit a given biological process (or component of a process, i.e. an enzyme, cell, cell receptor or microorganism) by half. The values are typically expressed as molar concentration.

It is commonly used as a measure of antagonist drug potency in pharmacological research. According to the FDA, IC₅₀ represents the concentration of a drug that is required for 50% inhibition in vitro.^[1] It is comparable to an EC₅₀ for agonist drugs. EC₅₀ also represents the plasma concentration required for obtaining 50% of a maximum effect in vivo.^[1]

Determining the IC₅₀ of a drug

Functional antagonist assay

The IC₅₀ of a drug can be determined by constructing a dose-response curve and examining the effect of different concentrations of antagonist on reversing agonist activity. IC₅₀ values can be calculated for a given antagonist by determining the concentration needed to inhibit half of the maximum biological response of the agonist.^[2] IC₅₀ values can be used to compare the potency of two antagonists.

IC₅₀ values are very dependent on conditions under which they are measured. In general, the higher the concentration of inhibitor, the more agonist activity will be lowered. IC₅₀ value increases as agonist concentration increases. Furthermore, depending on the type of inhibition other factors may influence IC₅₀ value; for ATP dependent enzymes IC₅₀ value has an interdependency with concentration of ATP, especially so if inhibition is all of it competitive.

Competition binding assays

In this type of assay, a single concentration of radioligand (usually an agonist) is used in every assay tube. The ligand is used at a low concentration, usually at or below its K_d value. The level of specific binding of the radioligand is then determined in the presence of a range of concentrations of other competing non-radioactive compounds (usually antagonists), in order to measure the potency with which they compete for the binding of the radioligand. Competition curves may also be computer-fitted to a logistic function as described under direct fit.

In this situation the IC₅₀ is the concentration of competing ligand which displaces 50% of the specific binding of the radioligand. The IC₅₀ value is converted to an absolute inhibition constant K_i using the Cheng-Prusoff equation formulated by Yung-Chi Cheng and William Prusoff (see K_i).^[2][3]

IC₅₀ and affinity

IC₅₀ is not a direct indicator of affinity although the two can be related at least for competitive agonists and antagonists by the Cheng-Prusoff equation.^[4] For enzymatic reactions, this equation is:

Ki=IC501+[S]Kmdisplaystyle K_i=frac ce IC501+frac [S]K_m

where K_i is the binding affinity of the inhibitor, IC₅₀ is the functional strength of the inhibitor, [S] is fixed substrate concentration and K_m is the concentration of substrate at which enzyme activity is at half maximal (but is frequently confused with substrate affinity for the enzyme, which it is not).

Alternatively, for inhibition constants at cellular receptors:^[5]

Ki=IC50[A]EC50+1displaystyle K_i=frac ce IC50frac [A]ce EC50+1

where [A] is the fixed concentration of agonist and EC₅₀ is the concentration of agonist that results in half maximal activation of the receptor. Whereas the IC₅₀ value for a compound may vary between experiments depending on experimental conditions, (e.g. substrate and enzyme concentrations) the K_i is an absolute value. K_i is the inhibition constant for a drug; the concentration of competing ligand in a competition assay which would occupy 50% of the receptors if no ligand were present.^[3]

The Cheng-Prusoff equation produces good estimates at high agonist concentrations, but over- or under-estimates K_i at low agonist concentrations. In these conditions, other analyses have been recommended.^[5]

pIC₅₀

Sometimes, IC₅₀ values are converted to the pIC₅₀ scale.

pIC50=−log10⁡(IC50)displaystyle ce pIC_50=-log _10ce (IC_50)

Note the minus sign, which means that higher values of pIC₅₀ indicate exponentially greater potency.

pIC₅₀ is usually given in terms of molar concentration (mol/L, or M). Therefore, to obtain a pIC₅₀, an IC₅₀ should be specified in units of M. When IC₅₀ is expressed in μM or nM, it will need to be converted to M before conversion to pIC₅₀.^[6]

Behavioral Assays

The IC₅₀ terminology is also used for some behavioral measures in vivo, such as a two bottle fluid consumption test. When animals decrease consumption from the drug-laced water bottle, the concentration of the drug that results in a 50% decrease in consumption is considered the IC₅₀ for fluid consumption of that drug.^[7]

See also

• Certain safety factor


• 
  EC₅₀ (half maximal effective concentration)


• 
  LD₅₀ (median lethal dose)


• 
  K_i (equilibrium constant)

References

External links

• ELISA IC50/EC50 Online Tool


• IC50 to pIC50 calculator


• Online tool for analysis of in vitro resistance to antimalarial drugs


• IC50-to-Ki converter