Effectiveness of sirolimus in combination with cyclosporine against chronic rejection in a pediatric liver transplant patient

Biol Pharm Bull. 2013;36(7):1221-5. doi: 10.1248/bpb.b13-00234. Epub 2013 May 15.

Abstract

The patient is a 3-year-old boy who received living-donor liver transplantation (LDLT) for hepatoblastoma, with his mother as the donor. Oral tacrolimus was started at a dose of 0.3 mg every 12 h from day 1, with the dosage adjusted on the basis of trough concentrations. The levels of aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine transferase (ALT), and total bilirubin (T-bil) were 110 U/L, 182 U/L, and 12.6 mg/dL, respectively, when chronic rejection (CR) was pathologically diagnosed. Then, sirolimus at a dose of 1.0 mg/d was added to the tacrolimus-based regimen. The T-bil level rapidly decreased to 5.4 mg/dL, without changes in AST and ALT. Because the intracellular receptor of sirolimus and tacrolimus is FK506-binding protein 12, we switched tacrolimus to cyclosporine at a dose of 60 mg/d to avoid competitive inhibition between these 2 drugs. The target trough concentration of sirolimus and cyclosporine was set to around 15 ng/mL and 180 ng/mL, respectively. The concentration/dose ratio of sirolimus was significantly correlated with the blood cyclosporine level (r=0.5293, p<0.05), suggesting the pharmacokinetic interaction between these 2 drugs. Thereafter, the levels of AST and ALT as well as the T-bil were successfully decreased to 73 U/L, 83 U/L, and 3.0 mg/dL, respectively. These results suggest that sirolimus therapy in combination with cyclosporine may be an effective treatment against CR after liver transplantation.

Publication types

  • Case Reports
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Child, Preschool
  • Chronic Disease
  • Cyclosporine / administration & dosage
  • Cyclosporine / therapeutic use*
  • Drug Therapy, Combination
  • Graft Rejection / prevention & control*
  • Humans
  • Immunosuppressive Agents / administration & dosage
  • Immunosuppressive Agents / therapeutic use*
  • Liver Function Tests
  • Liver Transplantation*
  • Male
  • Sirolimus / administration & dosage
  • Sirolimus / therapeutic use*
  • Treatment Outcome

Substances

  • Immunosuppressive Agents
  • Cyclosporine
  • Sirolimus