A Five-Year Prospective, Randomized, Open-Label Study of Standard-Dose Versus Low-Dose Prolonged-Release Tacrolimus With or Without Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme Inhibitor or Angiotensin II Receptor Blocker Post Kidney Transplantation

Abstract

Introduction: Novel approaches to improve long-term outcomes in kidney transplant recipients are required. Here, we present the 5-year data from a multicenter, prospective, Phase 3b trial evaluating treatment outcomes with standard (STD) or low (LOW) dose prolonged-release tacrolimus (TAC) combined with ACEi/ARB or other antihypertensive therapy (OAHT) in Canadian kidney transplant recipients.

Methods: Adult de novo kidney transplant recipients were randomized 2 × 2 to STD or LOW dose TAC and ACEi/ARB or OAHT. Patients had received a first or second transplant from a living or deceased donor and had ≥ 1 human leukocyte antigen mismatch with their donor.

Results: There were 281 patients from 13 sites across Canada. Overall patient survival was 95.7% and was comparable between groups. Graft survival at study end was 89.7% in the LOW+OAHT group and 94.4%-97.1% in the other groups and BPAR, and Class II de novo donor-specific antibodies (dnDSA) were higher in the LOW+OAHT group than in the other groups. However, these differences were not statistically significant. Graft function, blood pressure (BP), and proteinuria were similar between the groups; however, between 2 and 5 years there was a 2-fold or greater increase in the use of ACEi/ARB in patients randomized initially to OAHT, mostly because of hypertension and proteinuria. There were no unexpected safety findings.

Conclusion: Patients randomized to LOW TAC with renin-angiotensin system (RAS) blockade had similar outcomes at 5 years as patients treated with STD TAC with or without RAS blockade, whereas those randomized to LOW TAC without RAS blockade showed a non-significant trend towards more rejections and dnDSA TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT00933231.

Keywords: clinical research/practice; graft survival; hypertension/antihypertensive treatment; immunosuppressant‐calcineurin inhibitor: tacrolimus; immunosuppression/immune modulation; interstitial fibrosis and tubular atrophy; kidney transplantation/nephrology; patient survival.