シクロスポリン特異的モノクロナル抗体を用いたラジオイムノアッセイ法によるシクロスポリン血中濃度測定法について―岡山大学肝移植プログラム準備の一環として―

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.