Absence of influence of concomitant administration of rabeprazole on the pharmacokinetics of tacrolimus in adult living-donor liver transplant patients: A case-control study

This study assesses the effects of rabeprazole on the pharmacokinetics of tacrolimus, considering the cytochrome P450 (CYP) 2C19 and CYP3A5 genotypes of living-donor liver transplant patients (native intestine) and their corresponding donors (graft liver). We examined the concentration/dose ratio of tacrolimus in transplant patients treated with (n=17) or without (n=38) rabeprazole at 10 mg/day on postoperative days 22-28. A stratified analysis revealed no significant differences between the control and rabeprazole groups in the median (range) concentration/dose ratio of tacrolimus [(ng/mL)/(mg/day)] for CYP2C19 extensive/intermediate metabolizers [2.71 (1.00-6.15) versus 2.55 (0.96-9.25); P=0.85] and for poor metabolizers [4.92 (2.44-7.00) versus 3.82 (2.00-7.31); P=0.68], respectively. Even based on the classification of CYP2C19 genotypes of donors, no significant difference in the concentration/dose ratio of tacrolimus was found for the two groups (CYP2C19 extensive/intermediate metabolizers, P=0.52; poor metabolizers, P=0.51). The same was observed for CYP3A5*1 carriers (P=0.97 for native intestine; P= 0.87 for graft liver) and CYP3A5*3/*3 carriers (P=0.89 for native intestine; P=0.56 for graft liver). These findings suggest a safer dosing and monitoring of tacrolimus coadministered with rabeprazole early on after liver transplantation regardless of the CYP2C19 and CYP3A5 genotypes of transplant patients and their donors.