Objective: The purpose of this retrospective study is to review our experience with tacrolimus as a rescue immunosuppressant for heart transplant recipients with refractory rejection or cyclosporine intolerance. Methods: From June 1995 to November 1998, 15 cardiac transplant recipients were converted from our standard cyclosporine-based immunosuppressive regimen to a tacrolimus-based treatment....

Optimal prophylaxis of graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) is controversial. We compared efficacy of three posttransplant immune suppressive regimens in 2,286 recipients of HLA-identical sibling bone marrow transplants for acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) in first remission, acute myelogenous leukemia (AML) in first remission, or chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) in first chronic phase. Six hun...

BACKGROUND 6',7'-Dihydroxybergamottin is a furanocoumarin that inhibits CYP3A4 and is found in grapefruit juice and Seville orange juice. Grapefruit juice increases the oral bioavailability of many CYP3A4 substrates, including cyclosporine (INN, ciclosporin), but intestinal P-glycoprotein may be a more important determinant of cyclosporine availability. OBJECTIVES To evaluate the contribution...

BACKGROUND Permeability glycoprotein (P-glycoprotein or P-gp) plays an important role in the intestinal absorption of the immunosuppressive agents: cyclosporine and tacrolimus. OBJECTIVES The aim of this study was to determine how the intestinal absorption of cyclosporine and tacrolimus is affected when they are used with P-gp activating or inhibiting agents. MATERIAL AND METHODS In in vitr...

BACKGROUND Tacrolimus and cyclosporine microemulsion are the 2 major immunosuppressants for heart transplantation. Several studies have compared these 2 drugs, but the outcomes were not consistent. This meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials compared the beneficial and harmful effects of tacrolimus and microemulsion cyclosporine for heart transplant recipients. METHODS Electronic datab...

OBJECTIVES Hyperkalemia is an electrolyte disorder that may occur during the first few months after a renal transplant, in patients undergoing cyclosporine immunosuppression. We present our experience with cyclosporine-associated hyperkalemia in living-donor renal transplant recipients, with isolated clinically relevant hyperkalemia soon after surgery. MATERIALS AND METHODS We report 4 living...

The effect of acute intravenous infusion of cyclosporine (10 mg/kg) on efferent renal and genitofemoral nerve activity and afferent renal nerve activity was studied in anesthetized rats. All animals were studied after unilateral renal denervation and extracellular fluid volume expansion. Activity of both efferent sympathetic nerves was increased significantly by cyclosporine infusion (renal, 69...

Cyclosporine is a potent immunomodulator and has a beneficial effect in the treatment of ulcerative colitis (UC). We analyzed the mechanism of the effects of cyclosporine on the regulation of epithelial apoptosis via TGF-beta-related signaling, because the balance between the apoptosis and regeneration of epithelial cells seems to be a key factor to maintain the intestinal homeostasis. For this...

BACKGROUND Various systemic agents have been assessed for the treatment of alopecia areata (AA); however, there is a paucity of comparative studies. OBJECTIVE To assess and compare cyclosporine and betamethasone minipulse therapy as treatments for AA with regard to effectiveness and safety. METHODS Data were collected from 88 patients who received at least 3 months of oral cyclosporine (n=5...

The catabolism of various calcium channel blockers through cytochrome P-450 is heterogeneous and may be modified by concomitant use of cyclosporin A. In an open study we investigated the antihypertensive effect and clinical tolerance of the dihydropyridine amlodipine and its effects on cyclosporine kinetics in stable hypertensive renal transplant recipients not taking corticosteroids. Ten adult...