Genotoxic potential of cyclosporin A in patients with renal transplantation

Abstract

We analyzed the induction of sister chromatid exchange (SCE) by cyclosporin A (CsA) as a marker of genotoxic potential. In 30 patients undergoing renal transplantation, SCE induction was tested before the introduction of CsA and 3 months later. We found that SCE frequency increased significantly at the end of 3 months. To our knowledge, this is the first study demonstrating in viva induction of SCE by CsA in humans. We conclude that CsA has a genotoxic potential on human lymphocytes.