Vitamin K1 and Vitamin K2 immunopharmacological effects on the peripheral lymphocytes of healthy subjects and dialysis patients, as estimated by the lymphocyte immunosuppressant sensitivity test.

WHAT IS KNOWN AND OBJECTIVE: Renal transplant recipients receive immunosuppressive therapy to prevent acute rejection. We evaluated the immunopharmacological efficacy of vitamin K1 (VK1) and vitamin K2 (VK2) on T-cell mitogen-activated-peripheral lymphocytes of dialysis patients and healthy subjects. METHODS: The effects of VK1 and VK2 on the T-cell mitogen-stimulated proliferation of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) obtained from 12 healthy subjects and 12 dialysis patients were estimated. Seven cytokines produced from the activated PBMCs were measured by a BD Cytometric Beads Array kit. Regulatory T cells (Tregs) in PBMCs were analysed as CD4 + CD25 + FoxP3 +  lymphocytes by flow cytometry. RESULTS: VK2 dose-dependently suppressed the concanavalin A-stimulated proliferation of PBMCs from healthy subjects and dialysis patients, whereas VK1 had no significant effect on the PBMC proliferation. VK1 and VK2 did not influence the production of most of the Th1/Th2/Th17 cytokines from the activated PBMCs of these subjects, although VK2 increased the IL-4 production from PBMCs of healthy subjects. The Treg percentages in the PBMCs of dialysis patients were markedly decreased compared to healthy PBMCs after the treatment with relatively low concentrations of VK2. WHAT IS NEW AND CONCLUSION: The present data suggest that VK2 has immunosuppressive efficacy. VK2 may enhance the immunosuppressive efficacies of glucocorticoids while preventing osteoporosis caused by glucocorticoids.

Evaluation of the Infection Risk in Dialysis and Chronic Kidney Disease Patients Using an ATP Monitoring Assay.

The ATP monitoring assay is a useful biomarker for risk monitoring to detect infection and rejection episodes in transplant recipients. Hemodialysis patients have a higher rate of infectious mortality. Infections in hemodialysis patients are mainly caused by venous catheters, uremia, malnutrition and inflammation. However, the risk of infection episodes has not been evaluated using a lymphocyte ATP monitoring assay in hemodialysis and chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients. We measured the ATP amounts in the peripheral CD4+ cells of CKD (N = 85) and dialysis patients (N = 17) using an "Immuknow" assay kit. These CKD patients were divided, according to kidney disease stage, into G3a, G3b, G4, and G5 groups. The ATP amounts in CD4+ cells of the dialysis patients and each of the CKD groups were compared with healthy subjects. In both the dialysis and CKD patients, the ATP amounts in CD4+ cells were lower than in healthy subjects. Furthermore, there were significant differences in the ATP amounts between healthy subjects and each of the CKD-G3a, CKD-G3b, and CKD-G4 groups (P < 0.05). Patients with CKD-G3a, CKD-G3b and CKD-G4 were evaluated as being at high risk for infection according to the lymphocyte ATP monitoring assay. However, the ATP amounts in the dialysis and CKD-G5 patients did not differ from those in healthy subjects to a statistically significant extent. These results suggest that the ATP amount in the CD4+ cells of these patients with serve renal failure are influenced by dialysis treatment, uremia and/or oxidative stress.

Estimating pediatric doses of drugs metabolized by cytochrome P450 (CYP) isozymes, based on physiological liver development and serum protein levels.

We established a method for estimating pediatric doses of drugs metabolized by cytochrome P450 (CYP) isozymes, using the free fraction of drug in plasma (fu), serum protein level (P), liver volume (LV), and CYP activity (Vmax/Km) as indices of physiological and biochemical development in children up to 15 years old. This method allows the child/adult dose ratio (D(C)/D(A))=child/adult oral clearance ratio (CL((PO)(C))/CL((PO)(A))) of drugs mainly metabolized in the liver to be estimated by the following equation: [formula: see text]. Major metabolism of drugs was ascribed to CYP1A2 for theophylline and caffeine, and CYP1A2 and CYP2D6 for propranolol and mexiletine. For theophylline and caffeine, CL((PO)(C))/CL((PO)(A)) calculated from the child/adult body surface area ratio (BSA ratio) and the value calculated by our method were compared, using CL((PO)(C))/CL((PO)(A)) calculated from the clearance ratio based on population pharmacokinetics (PPK ratio) as a reference. For all drugs, pediatric doses calculated from the Crawford equation and our equation were compared, with predetermined doses as the reference. For theophylline and caffeine, the relative accuracy of our method was significantly higher than that of BSA-based estimation when the PPK ratio was used for reference. For theophylline, caffeine, and propranolol, the relative accuracy of our method was significantly higher than that of BSA-based estimation when predetermined doses were used for reference. These findings indicate the validity of our method which considers the physiological and biochemical development (i.e., fu, P, LV, and CYP activity) for pediatric dose estimation.

[Dose estimation for renal-excretion drugs in neonates and infants based on physiological development of renal function].

We established dose estimation formulae for renal-excretion drugs using the glomerular filtration rate (GFR), tubular secretion clearance (Sc), and unbound fraction of drug in plasma (fp) as a renal function index of physiological development in neonates and infants not more than 2 years of age. A dose ratio of (DC/DA)=clearance ratio of (CLC/CLA) congruent with(fpC.GFRC)/(fpA.GFRA) for neonates and infants/adults was applied to drugs with fp.GFR>Sc, while DC/DA=CLC/CLA congruent with(beta.BSAC+fpC.GFRC)/(beta.BSAA+fpA.GFRA) was applied to drugs with Sc>fp.GFR using the coefficient of each drug (beta) and body surface area (BSA). Validity of the estimation formulae was investigated in drugs with fp.GFR>Sc such as vancomycin (VCM), arbekacin (ABK), fosfomycin (FOM) and norfloxacin (NFLX), and in drugs with Sc>fp.GFR such as digoxin (DGX) and amoxicillin (AMPC). First, we compared the clearance ratio (CLC/ CLA) of VCM, ABK, and DGX estimated by our method with those calculated using the Japanese population clearance values and those estimated allometrically (BSAC/BSAA). Next, we compared the established doses of all drugs investigated with the doses for neonates and infants calculated from the conventional dose estimation methods for children and our estimation formulae, and evaluated our method. As a result, favorable consistency was observed in the CL ratio for all drugs, and the doses of VCM, FOM, NFLX and AMPC calculated from our estimation formulae approximated the established doses. In conclusion, the validity of the dose estimation method using pharmacokinetic factors related to physiological development (i.e., GFR, fp, Sc) for renal-excretion drugs in neonates and infants was demonstrated.