Tripterygium wilfordii hook f increase the blood concentration of tacrolimus.
OBJECTIVE
To observe the influence of the Tripterygium wilfordii Hook F (T II) on the blood concentration of tacrolimus and analyze the impact of this effect.


METHODS
Twenty-two renal transplant receipts taking tacrolimus combined with the T II were selected for this study. We analyzed the blood concentrations and the rate of concentration compared with dosage (C/D rate) pre- and postcombination over 6 months. All cases underwent the CYP3A5 genotype test.


RESULTS
The concentrations of tacrolimus were raised to a certain degree after the combination in all the cases. The first-time elevation differed from 1 week to 4 months. The C/D rate increased by 1.7 to 7.2 times with most evaluated C/D rates ranging from 1.8 to 3.8. The elevated C/D rate of the subgroup of CYP3A5 1/1 and 1/3 (n = 10) contrasted with the 3/3 genotype subgroup (n = 12: 2.99 +/- 1.71 vs 2.55 +/- 1.07; P = .472). The mycophenolate mofetil subgroup (n = 17) was not contrasted to the mizoribine subgroup (n = 5: 2.85 +/- 1.51 vs 2.31 +/- 0.26; P = .498).


CONCLUSIONS
T II considerably increased the blood concentration and the C/D rate of tacrolimus. The degree of increase was probably not related to the CYP3A5 genotype and the combination of immunosuppressive agents.
Wen
J
J
Research Institute of Nephrology, Jinling Hospital, Nanjing University School of Medicine, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China.
Li
L
L
Chen
J
J
Ji
S
S
Zheng
C
C
Liu
Z
Z
D051544:Cytochrome P-450 CYP3A / Q000235:genetics; D004359:Drug Therapy, Combination; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D007166:Immunosuppressive Agents / Q000097:blood / Q000378:metabolism; D007674:Kidney Diseases / Q000145:classification / Q000601:surgery; D016030:Kidney Transplantation / Q000276:immunology*; D007700:Kinetics; D016031:Liver Transplantation / Q000276:immunology; D010936:Plant Extracts / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D016559:Tacrolimus / Q000097:blood* / Q000378:metabolism; D029757:Tripterygium
D007166:Immunosuppressive Agents; D010936:Plant Extracts; C510164:CYP3A5 protein, human; D051544:Cytochrome P-450 CYP3A; D016559:Tacrolimus