Background: Renal dysfunction is a major complication of long-term immunosuppressive therapy with calcineurin inhibitors (CNI) in liver-transplant recipients. We undertook a randomised study to assess the safety and efficacy of CNI withdrawal and replacement by mycophenolate mofetil.
Methods: 28 people who had had renal dysfunction attributable to suspected CNI toxicity after liver transplantation participated in the study. We replaced CNI with mycophenolate mofetil in a stepwise pattern in half the group (study patients); the other half (controls) stayed on CNI immunosuppression. Renal function, blood pressure, uric acid, and blood lipids were measured before and 6 months after study entry. Side-effects of medication and graft function were recorded throughout the study.
Findings: At the end of the study, mean (SD) serum creatinine had fallen by 44.4 (48.7) micromol/L in study patients compared with 3.1 (14.3) micromol/L in controls; a mean difference of 41.3 micromol/L (95% CI 12.4-70.2). Moreover, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, and serum uric acid decreased significantly in the study group but not in the control group (mean [95% CI] between group differences 10.8 mm Hg [3.0-18.6], 5.0 mm Hg [0.9-9.2], and 83.1 micromol/L [12.7-153.6], respectively). There were no changes in cholesterol or triglyceride concentrations in either group. Side-effects were reported by eight of the study patients. Three reversible episodes of acute graft rejection occurred in study patients during mycophenolate mofetil monotherapy, whereas none occurred in the control group.
Interpretation: Substitution of CNI by mycophenolate mofetil can improve renal function, blood pressure, and uric acid concentration of liver-transplant patients, but there is an increased rejection risk with mycophenolate mofetil monotherapy.