About CellCept 

CellCept® (mycophenolate mofetil) is the #1 prescribed branded immunosuppressant in the U.S.¹³

CellCept is an ester of mycophenolic acid (MPA), an immunosuppressive agent.¹ CellCept is indicated for the prophylaxis of organ rejection in patients receiving allogeneic renal, cardiac, or hepatic transplants. CellCept should be used concomitantly with cyclosporine and corticosteroids.¹

Mechanism of Action

Used alone or in combination with other immunosuppressive agents, CellCept:

• Has been demonstrated in experimental animal models to prolong the survival of allogeneic transplants (kidney, heart, liver, intestine, limb, small bowel, pancreatic islets, and bone marrow).
• Has also been shown to reverse ongoing acute rejection in the canine renal and rat cardiac allograft models.
• Also inhibited proliferative arteriopathy in experimental models of aortic and cardiac allografts in rats, as well as in primate cardiac xenografts.
• Has been demonstrated to inhibit immunologically mediated inflammatory responses in animal models and to inhibit tumor development and prolong survival in murine tumor transplant models.

Mycophenolate mofetil is rapidly absorbed following oral administration and hydrolyzed to form MPA, which is the active metabolite. MPA is a potent, selective, uncompetitive, and reversible inhibitor of inosine monophosphate dehydrogenase (IMPDH), and therefore inhibits the de novo pathway of guanosine nucleotide synthesis without incorporation into DNA.

Because T- and B-lymphocytes are critically dependent for their proliferation on de novo synthesis of purines, whereas other cell types can utilize salvage pathways, MPA has potent cytostatic effects on lymphocytes. MPA inhibits proliferative responses of T- and B-lymphocytes to both mitogenic and allospecific stimulation. Addition of guanosine or deoxyguanosine reverses the cytostatic effects of MPA on lymphocytes.

MPA also suppresses antibody formation by B-lymphocytes. MPA prevents the glycosylation of lymphocyte and monocyte glycoproteins that are involved in intercellular adhesion to endothelial cells and may inhibit recruitment of leukocytes into sites of inflammation and graft rejection. Mycophenolate mofetil did not inhibit early events in the activation of human peripheral blood mononuclear cells, such as the production of interleukin-1 (IL-1) and interleukin-2 (IL-2), but did block the coupling of these events to DNA synthesis and proliferation.

  Safety Information

 

Reference:

¹CellCept® [product information]. Nutley, NJ: Roche Laboratories Inc.; October 2005.

¹³Data on file (Ref. 140-005) [2004 DDD data], Hoffmann-La Roche, Nutley, NJ 07110.