Medicine Description
Indication For the prophylaxis of organ rejection in patients receiving allogeneic renal, cardiac or hepatic transplants. Mycophenolate mofetil should be used concomitantly with cyclosporine and corticosteroids. Mechanism of action Mycophenolate mofetil is hydrolyzed to form mycophenolic acid (MPA), which is the active metabolite. MPA is a potent, selective, uncompetitive, and reversible inhibitor of inosine monophosphate dehydrogenase (IMPDH), and therefore inhibits the de novo pathway of guanosine nucleotide synthesis without incorporation into DNA. Because T- and B-lymphocytes are critically dependent for their proliferation on de novo synthesis of purines, whereas other cell types can utilize salvage pathways, MPA has potent cytostatic effects on lymphocytes. MPA inhibits proliferative responses of T- and B-lymphocytes to both mitogenic and allospecific stimulation. Addition of guanosine or deoxyguanosine reverses the cytostatic effects of MPA on lymphocytes.