The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of NUDT15 R139C, thiopurine S-methyltransferase (TPMT), and 6-TGN on azathioprine (AZA) induced leukopenia in Chinese autoimmune patients. Among 87 enrolled patients, 23 (26.4%) had leukopenia. The NUDT15 R139C variant was associated with leukopenia (p = 1.86 × 10-7; OR: 7.59; 95% CI: 3.16-18.21). However, TPMT genotype was not shown to be correlated with the incidence of leukopenia (p = 0.95). There was no significant difference of 6-TGN concentration between patients with or without leukopenia (p = 0.15) and no association was found in patients with NUDT15 R139C variants alleles (p = 0.62). Finally, we found that the range of 6-TGN concentrations in autoimmune diseases was much lower than the established 6-TGN monitoring range for inflammatory bowel diseases. Therefore, the variant of NUDT15 R139C is strongly associated with AZA-induced leukopenia in Chinese patients with various autoimmune diseases such as systemic lupus erythematosus, Sjögren's syndrome, etc.
CITATION STYLE
Fei, X., Shu, Q., Zhu, H., Hua, B., Wang, S., Guo, L., … Ge, W. (2018). NUDT15 R139C variants increase the risk of Azathioprine-induced leukopenia in Chinese autoimmune patients. Frontiers in Pharmacology, 9(MAY). https://doi.org/10.3389/fphar.2018.00460
Mendeley helps you to discover research relevant for your work.