Tacrolimus

BeschreibungTacrolimus, isolated from the microorganism Streptomyces tsukubaensis, is a macrolide immunosuppressant developed by Fujisawa for organ transplantation. It displays similar but more potent immunosuppressive activity than cyclosporin. It inhibits both cell mediated and humoral immune responses. In animal models of organ transplantation, tacrolimus has been shown to prolong survival of hepatic, renal, cardiac, small intestine, pancreatic and skin allografts and to reverse cardiac and renal allograft rejection. It has been used effectively in humans as rescue or primary immunosuppressant therapy in liver or kidney transplantation. Compared to cyclosporin, tacrolimus causes reduced incidence of infectious complications and of hypertension and hypercholesterolemia for the allograft recipients. In common with cyclosporin, tacrolimus binds with high affinity to a family of cytoplasmic immunosuppressant binding proteins, the immunophilins. This tight complex is proposed as the biologically active moiety that interacts with intracellular molecules involved in signal transduction.It inhibits phosphatase activity of calcineurin, an action that may impair the generation and/or activation of nuclear transcription factors required for lymphokine (particularly interleukin-2) gene expression. Tacrolimus has also been reported to have potential in multiple sclerosis, psoriasis, rheumatoid arthritis and uveitis associated with Behcet‘s disease.

VerwendenFK-506 (Tacrolimus) is a macrolide immunosuppressive drug that is mainly used after allogeneic organ transplant to reduce the activity of the patient's immune system