CYP3A5 and CYP3A4, but not ABCB1 Polymorphisms Affect Tacrolimus Dose-Adjusted Trough Concentrations in Kidney Transplant Recipients

Abstract

Background: Tacrolimus (TAC), acting as a calcineurin inhibitor, is an immunosuppressant widely used after kidney transplantation. TAC requires blood concentration monitoring due to large interindividual variability in its pharmacokinetics and a narrow therapeutic index. Since genetic factors are considered responsible for a part of the observed pharmacokinetic variability, hereby SNPs within the CYP3A4, CYP3A5 and ABCB1 genes in kidney transplant patients of Polish Caucasian origin were investigated. Patients & methods: A total of 241 patients treated with TAC through the first year after kidney transplantation were genotyped for the presence of common SNPs: rs776746:A>G (CYP3A5*3), rs35599367:C>T (CYP3A4*22), rs2740574:A>G (CYP3A4*1B) and rs1045642:C>T (ABCB1 3435C>T) using TaqMan^® assays. Results:CYP3A5 expressers received significantly higher weight-adjusted TAC doses, and were characterized by markedly lower C₀ and dose adjusted C₀ values in the course of treatment. CYP3A4*1B was significantly associated with TAC pharmacokinetics in univariate analysis. Impact of the CYP3A4*22 allele was significant only at particular time points, that is, 3 months after transplantation, with marginal significance 6 months after transplantation. The ABCB1 genotype did not influence TAC pharmacokinetics. Multivariate analysis of all the studied loci demonstrated that only the CYP3A5*1 (starting from month 1) and CYP3A4*22 alleles (at 3 and 6 months) were independent predictors of TAC dose-adjusted C₀. Conclusion: Our results confirm the impact of the CYP3A4*22 allele on TAC pharmacokinetics, as a second significant genetic factor (in addition to the CYP3A5*1 allele) influencing TAC dose-adjusted blood concentrations in kidney transplant recipients.

Original submitted 21 August 2013; Revision submitted 30 September 2013

KEYWORDS::

• CYP3A4
• CYP3A5
• kidney transplantation
• pharmacogenetics
• tacrolimus

Financial & competing interests disclosure

The authors have no relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript. This includes employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants or patents received or pending, or royalties.

No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.

Ethical conduct of research

The authors state that they have obtained appropriate institutional review board approval or have followed the principles outlined in the Declaration of Helsinki for all human or animal experimental investigations. In addition, for investigations involving human subjects, informed consent has been obtained from the participants involved.