Cyclosporine and tacrolimus are used to prevent acute rejection episode for renal transplant recipients. The lymphocyte immunosuppressant sensitivity test(LIST)can predict the therapeutic efficacy of these immunosuppressive agents in renal transplant recipients. We previously reported that there were correlations between cyclosporine and tacrolimus pharmacological efficacy evaluated by LIST with the 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide However, the correlation of pharmacological efficacies of calcineurin inhibitors has never been evaluated at early phase after operation. This study examined the relationship between cyclosporine and tacrolimus pharmacological efficacy by LIST with MTT assay procedure at before and at two,four and six weeks after transplantation in renal transplant recipients. The relationships between cyclosporine- and tacrolimus- pharmacological efficacies gave significant Kendall and Spearman coefficient correlation in these transplant recipients by the LIST with MTT assay procedure at just before, at four and six weeks after transplantation(P＜0.05). However, no statistically significant relationship was only observed between the pharmacological efficacies of the calcineurin inhibitors at two weeks after transplantation(P＞0.05). The correlation between cyclosporine and tacrolimus pharmacological efficacies may change due to either high dose immunosuppressive therapy or clinical events at two weeks after renal transplantation.
