Mercaptopurine Therapy Intolerance and Heterozygosity at the Thiopurine S-Methyltransferase Gene Locus

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia are often treated with 6-mercaptopurine, and those with homozygous deficiency in thiopurine S -methyltransferase (TPMT) enzyme activity have an extreme sensitivity to this drug as a result of the accumulation of higher cellular concentrations of thioguanine nucleotides. We studied the metabolism, dose requirements, and tolerance of 6-mercaptopurine among patients with different TPMT phenotypes. METHODS: We compared, by use of statistical modeling, 6-mercaptopurine pharmacology and tolerance in 180 patients who achieved remission on St. Jude Children's Research Hospital Protocol Total XII composed of weekly methotrexate (40 mg/m ² ) and daily oral 6-mercaptopurine (75 mg/m ² ) given for 2.5 years, interrupted every 6 weeks during the first year for treatment with either high-dose methotrexate or teniposide plus cytarabine. Statistical tests were two-sided. RESULTS: Erythrocyte concentrations of thioguanine nucleotides (pmol/8 × 10 ⁸ erythrocytes) were inversely related to TPMT enzyme activity ( P <.01), with averages (± standard deviations) of 417 (±179), 963 (±752), and 3565 (±1282) in TPMT homozygous wild-type (n = 161), heterozygous (n = 17), and homozygous-deficient (n = 2) patients, respectively. There was complete concordance between TPMT genotype and phenotype in a subset of 28 patients for whom TPMT genotype was determined. There were no sex differences in thioguanine nucleotide concentrations ( P = .24), TPMT enzyme activity ( P = .22), or average weekly prescribed dose of 6-mercaptopurine ( P = .49). The cumulative incidence of 6-mercaptopurine dose reductions due to toxicity was highest among patients homozygous for mutant TPMT (100%), intermediate among heterozygous patients (35%), and lowest among wild-type patients (7%) ( P <.001), with average (± standard deviation) final weekly 6-mercaptopurine doses of 72 (±60), 449 (±160), and 528 (±90) mg/m ² , respectively. Lowering doses of 6-mercaptopurine in TPMT heterozygotes and in deficient patients allowed administration of full protocol doses of other chemotherapy while maintaining high thioguanine nucleotide concentrations. CONCLUSION: We conclude that genetic polymorphism in TPMT is an important determinant of mercaptopurine toxicity, even among patients who are heterozygous for this trait.