The rapid development of immunosuppressants (IS) has already improved the prognosis of recipients post solid organ transplantation (SOT) in the past decades. However, the individual difference in IS metabolism may lead to either rejection or drug toxicity, thus suggesting the importance of personalized therapy. Gene polymorphisms (GP) regarding metabolic enzymes and medication transporters of the IS consist the footstone for personalized therapy, which are the hotspots in recent years. However, although a great of efforts have been put into researching the association between GP and pharmacokinetics (PK) or pharmacodynamics (PD), controversial results still remained. The only consensus that has been reached is the use of GP-based IS therapy could help the recipients to reach target concentration faster with less dose adjustment. Whether the GP-based IS therapy could improve the clinical long-term outcome needs further confirmation. In our chapter, we would summarize the information associated with GP of IS, and discuss the potential impact of GP on clinical practice to provide new insights into guiding tailored therapy of IS in SOT.
Part of the book: Genetic Diversity and Disease Susceptibility