Influence of Tacrolimus on Serum Vitamin A Levels in Patients After Renal Transplantation

Abstract

Abstract Objective Patients after renal transplantation exhibit high levels of vitamin A, which has been previously suspected to be related with immunosuppressive medication. However, this possibility has not yet been systematically studied. Materials and Methods Altogether, 116 patients were included and divided into 2 groups based on serum creatinine levels. The mean values of vitamin A levels between the 2 groups were compared using the Student’s t-test. The Pearson’s correlation coefficient was calculated to assess the association between vitamin A and tacrolimus. Results Elevated vitamin A levels were found in both groups, and patients with kidney dysfunction after transplantation showed higher levels of vitamin A than patients with recovered kidney function. Most important, we could not identify any significant correlations between vitamin A level and tacrolimus for both groups. After long-term and short-term monitoring for different patients, obvious individual differences emerged. Such results generally ruled out previous suspicions regarding causality between immunosuppressive medication (tacrolimus) and vitamin A elevation after renal transplantation. Conclusion Patients after renal transplantation showed higher serum vitamin A levels than people with a normal medical exam, even if their graft function was restored. The cause of this abnormality did not seem to be related with tacrolimus.