Kidney Function

Nephrotoxicity is the most important side effect of cyclosporine use and is also the major “thorn in the side” of this remarkable drug. It is most likely not a coincidence that the two most powerful immunosuppressants in clinical practice, cyclosporine and tacrolimus, have similar modes of immunosuppressant action and similar clinical and pathologic patterns of nephrotoxicity. Theories linking the mechanism of immunosuppresion and nephrotoxicity are very interesting topics of discussion among researchers.

The term “cyclosporine nephrotoxicity” is often used loosely, and it is important to note that this term encompasses several distinct and overlapping dromes which are produced by both functional and morphologic changes within the allograft.

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