ALBERT

Description: Allelic variants implicated in drug absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion (ADME) affect drug pharmacokinetic variability and have been increasingly recognized as important factors in medical therapy. In solid organ transplantation, certain ADME genes affect the blood level of immunosuppressants as well as clinical outcomes despite rigorous traditional therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM). The influence of ADME pharmacogenetics in Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation (HSCT) has not been well studied, with few publications and none reporting the effects in the setting of the tacrolimus (TAC)/ sirolimus (SIR) GVHD-preventive combination. In this exploratory pilot study, the objective was to evaluate possible associations between ADME variants with TAC/SIR blood levels and clinical outcomes in the allogeneic HSCT setting. The primary focus was on 3 ADME genes [ABCB1 (MDR1), CYP3A4, and CYP3A5] known to influence TAC/SIR outcomes in solid organ transplant. Secondarily we explored associations with other gene variants on the ADME panel. We analyzed archived DNA samples from 179 HSCT recipients on the Sequenom MassARRAY® platform. This panel is based on the PharmADME Working Group core list and interrogates 184 allelic variants and 12 copy number variants and 4 gene conversions (in 36 pharmacogenetically relevant genes). Blood levels of TAC and SIR were collected for all patients at least once weekly for the first 100 days post-transplant. For this analysis, median blood levels of TAC and SIR were obtained for the first 7 and 14 days post-transplant. Conditioning regimens consisted of fludarabine/melphalan (n=106), total body irradiation (TBI)/cyclophosphamide (n=11), TBI/etoposide (n=46) and busulfan/cyclophosphamide (n=14). All patients received TAC/SIR-based GVHD prophylaxis according to Shayani et al. (Biol Blood Marrow Transplant 2013). No azoles were used as fungal prophylaxis. Of 179 samples genotyped, 178 showed high quality data. The average call rate for these samples was 98.85% over 200 assays, with a median call rate of 100%. Of these assays, 66 variants were identified that could be evaluated for association with TAC/SIR levels and clinical outcomes; other assays were excluded due to homozygosity or 〉10% missing data. In the setting of the TAC/SIR combination, the median SIR blood level over the first 14 days post-HSCT was higher in rs2032582 (ABCB1) T carriers vs other groups (p=0.01), as was the median concentration/dose (C/D) ratio (p=0.05) (Table). We also found that the median TAC blood level over the first 7 days post-HSCT was lower in the rs776746 ( CYP3A5) AA group compared to GG or GA groups (p