Application of immunosuppressants in patients with autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease after kidney transplantation

Objective To investigate the optimal dose range of immunosuppressants in patients with autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD) after renal transplantation. Methods A cohort of 68 patients with ADPKD who received their first renal transplantation between March, 2000 and January, 2018 in our institute were retrospectively analyzed, with 68 non-ADPKD renal transplant recipients matched for gender, age and date of transplant as the control group. We analyzed the differences in patient and renal survival rates, postoperative complications and concentrations of immunosuppressive agents between the two groups at different time points within 1 year after kidney transplantation. The concentrations of the immunosuppressants were also compared between the ADPKD patients with urinary tract infections (UTI) and those without UTI after the transplantation. Results The recipients with ADPKD and the control recipients showed no significantly difference in the overall 1-, 5-, and 10- year patient survival rates (96.6% vs 96.0%, 94.1% vs 93.9%, and 90.6% vs 93.9%, respectively; P g 0.05), 1-, 5-, and 10-year graft survival rates (95.2% vs 96.0%, 90.8% vs 87.2%, and 79.0% vs 82.3%, respectively; P g 0.05), or the incidences of other post- transplant complications including acute rejection, gastrointestinal symptoms, cardiovascular events, pneumonia, and neoplasms (P g 0.05). The plasma concentrations of both tacrolimus and mycophenolate mofetil (MPA) in ADPKD group were significantly lower than those in the control group at 9 months after operation (P l 0.05). The incidence of UTI was significantly higher in ADPKD patients than in the control group (P l 0.05). In patients with ADPKD, those with UTI after transplantation had a significantly higher MPA plasma concentration (P l 0.05). Conclusions In patients with ADPKD after renal transplant, a higher dose of MPA is associated with a increased risk of UTI, and their plasma concentrations of immunosuppressants for long-term maintenance of immunosuppression regimen can be lower than those in other kidney transplantation recipients.