Immunosuppressive drug’s blood level variability may identify pediatric kidney transplant recipients at risk of rejection

Although kidney transplantation is the most effective treatment for children with kidney failure, rejection of the transplanted organ by the recipient’s immune system is a major concern. Transplant recipients must take life-long immunosuppressant drugs, most commonly tacrolimus, and some patients experience large fluctuations in blood levels of tacrolimus even when the dose is unchanged—a phenomenon called high tacrolimus intrapatient variability. […]