[Mycophenolate mofetil-based calcineurin inhibitor reduced immunosuppressive protocol for the improvement of renal dysfunction after liver transplantation].

OBJECTIVE: Renal dysfunction caused by calcineurin inhibitor (CNI) after liver transplantation is a major complication among the long-term surviving recipients. Several studies have demonstrated that the adverse events could be prevented or avoided by mycophenolate mofetil (MMF)-based CNI reduced immunosuppressive protocol. In this retrospective study, we analyzed the middle-term effect of this regimen upon improving the CNI-associated renal dysfunction. METHODS: 124 OLT recipients' data within the recent three years were reviewed in this study. RESULTS: Renal dysfunction developed in 14 cases and its incidence was 11.29%. Five cases of them were from cyclosporine A (CsA) group and 9 from tacrolimus (TAC) group. The postoperative time ranged from 3-39 months with a mean follow-up duration of 19.26 +/- 9.30 months. The interval between renal impairment and surgery was 12.92 +/- 9.04 (1-31) months. CNI were reduced stepwise by about 55% in TAC group (TAC 2.60 +/- 1.14 mg/d vs 1.10 +/- 0.22 mg/d; t = 3.000, P = 0.040) and about 70% in CsA group (CsA 370 +/- 179 mg/d vs 105 +/- 27; t = 3.359, P = 0.028). Serum creatinine had decreased from 139 +/- 46 micromol/L to 122 +/- 46 micromol/L (t = 3.152, P = 0.004), 114 +/- 53 micromol/L (t = 4.180, P = 0.001) and 93 +/- 18 micromol/L (t = 4.721, P = 0.000) after administrating a mean MMF dose of 1.05 +/-0.15 g/d (0.5-1.5 g/d) for 1, 2 and 3 months respectively. And the creatinine clearance rate increased from 51.83 +/- 21.28 ml/min to 63 +/- 22 ml/min (t = -3.439, P = 0.004), 69 +/- 25 ml/min (t = -4.207, P = 0.001) and 79 +/- 25 m/min (t = -6.149, P = 0.000) during the corresponding period. Improvement was maintained within a follow-up period of 6.00 +/- 3.37 (3-14) months without major immunological or non-immunological side effects, except for 1 recipient from another institution who died of CNI-associated renal failure within 1 month after burst. 71.43% (10/14) of recipients achieved the normalization of serum creatinine and 21.43% (3/14) experienced a significant reduction in their serum creatinine levels. Conclusions MMF-based CNI reduced immunosuppressive protocol can improve substantially CNI-associated renal dysfunction after liver transplantation. And the long-term surviving recipients have excellent profiles of safety and tolerance.