Measurement of cyclosporine concentration using radioimmunoassay with a specific monoclonal antibody : Preparing for the liver transplantation program in Okayama University Medical School

Cyclosporine, a new strong immunosuppressive agent, has dramatically improved the outcome of liver transplantation since its introduction to the clinical field in the 1980s. Despite its efficacy, cyclosporine has a very narrow therapeutic window, wthich requires fine adjustment of the appropriate dose based on its concentration in the blood. It will be necessary to obtain reliable data on a daily basis, when the liver transplantation program actually starts in the near future. To address this problem, we examined the utility of the radioimmunoassay kit using a specific monoclonal antibody (CYCLO-Trac WHOLE-BLOOD, Baxter, Japan), compared with the data derived from a commercial laboratory service (SRL, Japan). Each value of the cyclosporine concentration in the whole blood, measurely by CYCLO-Trac correlated with that of SRL(p<0.0001). CYCLO-Trac was suggested to be useful in obtaining a reliable data on a daily basis within our hospital.