Red Blood cell IMPDH activity in adults and children with or without azathioprine: Relationship between thiopurine metabolites, ITPA and TPMT activities

Inosine monophosphate dehydrogenase (IMPDH) is considered as the limiting enzyme of thiopurine metabolism for the formation of 6-thioguanine nucleotides (6-TGN). No data are available on the influence of RBC IMPDH activity on the metabolism of thiopurine drugs in individuals with IBD. The aims of this study were as follows: (a) to carry out a phenotypic study of RBC IMPDH activity in adults and children treated or not with azathioprine (AZA) for autoimmune diseases, and (b) to investigate the relationship between the activities of IMPDH, thiopurine metabolites, inosine triphosphatase (ITPA) and thiopurine methyltransferase (TPMT). IMPDH activity was determined in 97 adults and 67 children treated or not with AZA. 6-Thioguanine nucleotides (6-TGN), 6-methylmercaptopurine nucleotide (6-MeMPN) levels, and ITPA as well as TPMT activities were measured in RBCs by HPLC. Using the Gaussian mixture model, distribution of IMPDH activity was evaluated. Influence of age, sex and AZA treatment on IMPDH activity was also assessed. A bimodal distribution in IMPDH activity was found with 87% of patients exhibiting normal activity and 13% of patients with high activity. No influence of age, sex and AZA therapy was found. There is no relationship between TPMT, ITPA and IMPDH activities. A negative correlation between IMPDH activity and 6-MeMPN was shown in adults and children (rs = -0.335 P = 0.014 and rs = -0.383 P = 0.012, respectively). Our results suggest that AZA-treated patients exhibiting lower IMPDH activity could have higher Me-6MPN levels with higher risk of hepatotoxicity. We demonstrated that RBC matrix could be an interesting alternative to lymphocyte matrix to monitor thiopurine metabolites and enzyme activity.