Tacrolimus (TAC) is the backbone of an immunosuppressive drug used in most solid organ transplant recipients. A single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) at position 6986G>A in CYP3A5 has been notably involved in the pharmacokinetic variability of TAC. It is hypothesized that CYP3A5 genotyping in patients may provide a guideline for TAC therapeutic regimen. To further evaluate the impact of CYP3A5 v...

BACKGROUND The failing heart displays increased glycolytic flux that is not matched by a commensurate increase in glucose oxidation. This mismatch induces increased anaplerotic flux and inefficient glucose metabolism. We previously found adult transgenic mouse hearts expressing the fetal troponin I isoform, (ssTnI) to be protected from ischemia by increased glycolysis. In this study, we investi...

BACKGROUND Tacrolimus (TAC)-induced pancreatic islet injury is one of the important causes of new-onset diabetes in transplant recipients. This study was performed to evaluate whether a dipeptidyl peptidase IV (DPP IV) inhibitor is effective in improving TAC-induced diabetes mellitus by reducing pancreatic islet injury. METHODS Rats were treated with TAC (1.5 mg/kg, subcutaneously) and the DP...

The anti-Tac antibody is known to bind to the p55 chain of the human interleukin 2 receptor. An immunotoxin was produced by genetically linking Clostridium perfringens phospholipase C (PLC) to the Fab domain of anti-Tac. For this purpose, the PLC gene, with its own promoter and signal sequence, was fused to the 5' end of the VHCH1 segment of the anti-Tac heavy chain gene. The anti-Tac light cha...

OBJECTIVES The purpose of this study was to evaluate the relationship between calcification in tibial arteries, the degree of limb ischemia, and the near-term risk of amputation. BACKGROUND Determining the amputation risk in patients with peripheral arterial disease (PAD) remains difficult. Developing new measures to identify patients who are at high risk for amputation would allow for target...

The purpose of this study was to determine whether normospermic infertile men have high seminal oxidative stress, using 3 measures of oxidative stress: reactive oxygen species (ROS), total antioxidant capacity (TAC), and a composite ROS-TAC score. Forty-three normospermic men without leukocytospermia and 19 healthy donors who came to our infertility clinic were included. Patients were categoriz...

BACKGROUND The immunosuppressive drug tacrolimus has the short-term effect of reducing proteinuria in patients with immunoglobulin A nephropathy (IgAN). Our study investigated the effects on proteinuria and kidney function after discontinuation of tacrolimus. METHODS Patients with biopsy-proven IgAN were included in the study and randomly divided into two treatment groups. There was a corresp...

Defining the pharmacological target(s) of currently used drugs and developing new analogues with greater potency are both important aspects of the search for agents that are effective against drug-sensitive and drug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Thiacetazone (TAC) is an anti-tubercular drug that was formerly used in conjunction with isoniazid, but removed from the antitubercular chemoth...

BACKGROUND Previously, circulating total antioxidant capacity (TAC) in traumatic brain injury (TBI) patients has been scarcely studied and only in studies of small sample size (lower than 55 TBI patients). In one study were found higher serum TAC in non-survivor than in survivor TBI patients; however, an association between circulating TAC and mortality in patients with TBI has not been previou...