Immunosuppressive Drugs Flashcards
What is the function of immunosuppressive drugs?
Used to dampen the immune response in organ transplantation and autoimmune disease
What are the major classes of immunosuppressive drugs?
Calcineurin inhibitors
Antiproliferative/antimetabolic agents
Biological (antibodies)
Glucocorticoids
What is the primary objective of immunosuppressive treatment?
Prevent the acute rejection of organ transplant
What is the secondary objective of treatment?
Install a tolerance for the transplanted organ
How are the objectives of the immunosuppressive treatment obtained?
- Down-regulation of the immune system activity to achieve a therapeutic objective
- Achieve immunological tolerance: re-educating the body not to reject
What are the steps when administering immunosuppressive treatment?
- Intensive induction and lower-dose maintenance drug protocols
- Greater immunosuppression is required to gain early engraftment
- Early high-risk acute rejection is replaced over time by the increased risk of medications’ side effects
- Reach a slow reduction of maintenance immunosuppressive drugs
How is early engraftment achieved?
Treat established rejection rather than maintain long-term immunosuppression
What are examples of Calcineurin inhibitors?
Cyclosporins
Tacrolimus
What are examples of mTOR inhibitors?
Sirolimus
Tacrolimus
Everolimus
What are examples of anti-metabolites?
Azathioprine
Mycophenolate
Mofetil
What are examples of steroids?
Prednisolone
Methylprednisolone
What are examples of monoclonal antibodies?
Basiliximab
Alemtuzumab
Rituximab
Adalimumab
What is the the normal pathway of calcineurin?
- TCR Activation
- Phospholipase C Activation –> Ca2+ release
- Ca2+ & Calcineurin
- Calcineurin + Immunophilin
- Dephosphorylation of nuclear factor of activated T - cells (NFAT)
- NFAT Translocation
- Upregulation of cytokine genes –> Cytokine
At which point of the normal calcineurin pathway do calcineurin inhibitors act?
Step 3: When calcineurin acts alongside calcium
What are the PK of calcineurin inhibitors? (4)
- Narrow therapeutic index
- Orally bioavailable
- Highly protein bound
- Metabolized by CYP3A4
What is the drug interactions of calcineurin inhibitors like?
Potential for drug interactions with Sirolimus, an mTOR inhibitor
What is the precaution taken with calcineurin inhibitors because of their low therapeutic index?
Therapuetic drug monitoring
What is cyclosporine absorption influenced by?
P-glycoprotein (permeability glycoprotein - pump/variability among individuals ABCB1)
What percentage of calcineurin inhibitors is protein-bound?
90%
What is the alternative name for Sirolimus?
Rapamycin
What is Sirolimus?
A macrolide identified in a bacterial strain of STreptomyces that produces a potent antifungal metabolite
What are the medical purposes of mTOR inhibitors?
Approved in renal transplantations in combination with other agents
Also used in drug-eluting stents in coronary artery intervention
How does Rapamycin help with stents?
Deferred release of antiproliferative drugs such as Rapamycin controls the rapid and undesired cell growth process in the stent
What are the PK of mTOR inhinbitors? (3)
- Highly protein bound
- Adminisered as tablets
- Metabolised by CYP3A4, also a substrate for P-glycoprotein
What % of mTOR inhibitor drugs is protein-bound?
92%
What happens when Rapamycin binds to FKBP12?
Catalyzes peptidyl-prolyl cis/trans isomerization and functions as molecular chaperone
What is FKBP12?
A target for Rapamycin
What is Everolimus?
A derivative of Sirolimus
What is Tacrolimus?
FKB506, which binds to FKBP12