Browsing by Author "Zetterman, Teemu"

Methotrexate is an antifolate drug used in the Nordic Society of Pediatric Haematology and Oncology (NOPHO) treatment protocol for childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). Methotrexate is a substrate of several transporter proteins, but the exact extent to which these proteins affect methotrexate pharmacokinetics is still unclear. In this retrospective study, the effects of ABCC2, SLCO1B1, SLCO1B3 and ABCG2 genetic variants as well as clinical covariates on methotrexate pharmacokinetics were studied in a population of 90 Finnish children with ALL, treated in 1992 – 2001 according to the NOPHO treatment protocol for ALL. None of the investigated genetic variants had a significant effect on the pharmacokinetic parameters of methotrexate. These data indicate that these transporter variants play only a minor, if any, role in explaining interindividual variability in methotrexate pharmacokinetics in the treatment of Finnish children with ALL according to the NOPHO protocol.