Three patients with polymyositis refractory to conventional steroid and immunosuppressive treatment, but responsive to cyclosporin A, are described. In a fourth patient cyclosporin A was used as a first line drug in combination with steroids in the treatment of life-threatening dermatomyositis. Cyclosporin A in the management of polymyositis/dermatomyositis requires formal assessment of its cos...

To determine if exogenous gamma interferon is effective in immunosuppressed mice infected with Trypanosoma cruzi, recombinant murine gamma interferon was administered to cyclosporin-treated mice with either acute or chronic T. cruzi infection. Gamma interferon significantly decreased parasitemia and prevented death in acutely infected mice. Parasitemias and mortality of mice treated with both g...

The clinical effects of cyclosporin were evaluated during cytotoxic treatment in a 61 year old man with acute myeloid leukaemia. He had required a renal transplant 18 months before presenting with acute myeloid leukaemia (FAB subtype M4). He had received cyclosporin 3.5-4.0 mg/kg daily to maintain a plasma cyclosporin concentration of 75-150 ng/ml. Cyclosporin was continued during induction che...

Introduction: Hypertension has emerged as a serious adverse effect of immunosuppression with cyclosporin, which has become the mainstay of immunosuppression in organ transplantation. Improved survival rates with cyclosporin compared to previous regimens based on corticosteroids and azathioprine were established and have led to an expansion of solid organ transplantation. Cyclosporin has also be...

Cyclosporin A induces closure of the mitochondrial permeability transition pore. We aimed to investigate whether this closure results in concomitant increases in mitochondrial membrane potential (DeltaPsim) and the production of reactive oxygen species. Fluorescent probes were used to assess DeltaPsim (JC-1, 5,5',6,6'-tetrachloro-1,1',3,3'-tetraethyl-benzimidazolyl-carbocyanine iodide), reactiv...

Recent experiments in mice have demonstrated that the systemic exposure to p.o. administered paclitaxel is significantly enhanced with coadministration of the P-glycoprotein blocker SDZ PSC 833 (J. van Asperen et al, Br. J. Cancer, 76: 1181-1183, 1997). To facilitate further research on the feasibility of a clinically effective oral formulation of paclitaxel, it is important to know whether cot...

A 35-yr-old woman with rheumatoid arthritis, receiving cyclosporin A, presented with diplopia, ptosis, loss of horizontal and vertical eye movements, dysarthria, nasal regurgitation. After differential diagnosis, cyclosporin A neurotoxicity was suspected and the treatment stopped. All side-effects were reversed with the discontinuation of the drug. Central nervous system neurotoxicity with low-...

(Suggestions are based on Level III and IV evidence) • In children treated with cyclosporin, 2 h peak cyclosporin level (C2) monitoring should be used in the initial post-transplant period, as the C2 level is a better predictor of cyclosporin exposure than C0 monitoring (Level III evidence). Limited data suggest that the C2 level should be maintained above 1500 ng/mL in the early post-transplan...

The efficacy of cyclosporin (Sandimmun) given in a daily dose of 5 mg/kg for 6 weeks in severe atopic dermatitis was confirmed in this double-blind, placebo-controlled, short-term study. Of the 46 patients included in the study, 23 were randomized to receive cyclosporin and 23 to receive placebo. Four of the 23 patients (17%) on cyclosporin, and 14 of the 23 patients (61%) who received placebo,...