title: Long-term outcomes in liver transplant patients with hepatic C infection receiving tacrolimus or cyclosporine.
abstract: Choice of calcineurin inhibitor may be a contributing factor to deteriorating patient and graft survival following liver transplantation for hepatitis C virus (HCV). In our multicenter, open-label LIS2T study, de novo liver transplant patients stratified by HCV status were randomized to cyclosporine or tacrolimus. Follow-up data were obtained in an observational study of 95 patients. Mean follow-up was 34 and 37 months, respectively, for cyclosporine-treated (n = 47) and tacrolimus-treated (n = 48) patients. In patients not receiving antiviral therapy, 22 of 31 given cyclosporine (72%) and 24 of 29 given tacrolimus (83%) had biochemical recurrence of HCV. In 68 patients with at least one biopsy, histological evidence of HCV-related hepatitis was present in 27 of 31 (87%) cyclosporine-treated patients and 37 of 37 (100%) tacrolimus-treated patients (P = .02, chi-square test). Three-year actuarial risk of fibrosis stage 2 was 66% with cyclosporine and 90% with tacrolimus; for fibrosis stage 3 or 4 it was 46% and 80%, respectively. Three graft losses were attributed to HCV recurrence in cyclosporine-treated patients and six in tacrolimus-treated patients. Tacrolimus may be associated with increased risk of histological HCV disease recurrence compared to cyclosporine.
authors.affiliation: Fundación Favoloro, Buenos Aires, Argentina. fvillamil@ffavaloro.org
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Villamil
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Levy
authors.forename: G L
authors.initials: GL
authors.lastname: Grazi
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mies
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Samuel
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Sanjuan
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rossi
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lake
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Munn
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Mühlbacher
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Leonardi
authors.forename: U
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Cillo
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000601:surgery; D016572:Cyclosporine / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006526:Hepatitis C / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000601:surgery*; D006801:Humans; D007166:Immunosuppressive Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000601:surgery; D016031:Liver Transplantation / Q000276:immunology / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012008:Recurrence; D012307:Risk Factors; D016559:Tacrolimus / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D013997:Time Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D007166:Immunosuppressive Agents; D016572:Cyclosporine; D016559:Tacrolimus