Nonrelapse mortality and mycophenolic acid exposure in Nonmyeloablative Hematopoietic cell transplantation

We evaluated the pharmacodynamic relationships between mycophenolic acid (MPA), the active metabolite of mycophenolate mofetil (MMF), and outcomes in 308 patients after nonmyeloablative hematopoietic cell transplantation. Patients were conditioned with total body irradiation±fludarabine, received grafts from HLA-matched related (n=132) or unrelated (n=176) donors, and received postgrafting immunosuppression with MMF and a calcineurin inhibitor. Total and unbound MPA pharmacokinetics were determined to day 25; maximum a posteriori Bayesian estimators were used to estimate total MPA concentration at steady state (C_ss). Rejection occurred in 9 patients, 8 of whom had a total MPA C_ss less than 3μg/mL. In patients receiving a related donor graft, MPA C_ss was not associated with clinical outcomes. In patients receiving an unrelated donor graft, low total MPA C_ss was associated with increased grades III to IV acute graft-versus-host disease and increased nonrelapse mortality but not with day 28T cell chimerism, disease relapse, cytomegalovirus reactivation, or overall survival. We conclude that higher initial oral MMF doses and subsequent targeting of total MPA C_ss to greater than 2.96μg/mL could lower grades III to IV acute graft-versus-host disease and nonrelapse mortality in patients receiving an unrelated donor graft.