PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - S. M. Yule AU - D. Walker AU - M. Cole AU - L. McSorley AU - S. Cholerton AU - A. K. Daly AU - A.D.J. Pearson AU - A. V. Boddy TI - The Effect of Fluconazole on Cyclophosphamide Metabolism in Children DP - 1999 Mar 01 TA - Drug Metabolism and Disposition PG - 417--421 VI - 27 IP - 3 4099 - http://dmd.aspetjournals.org/content/27/3/417.short 4100 - http://dmd.aspetjournals.org/content/27/3/417.full SO - Drug Metab Dispos1999 Mar 01; 27 AB - Fluconazole is increasingly used in children receiving chemotherapy. Many of these patients are being treated with cyclophosphamide, which must undergo hepatic metabolism to produce active alkylating species. As a consequence of the cytochrome P-450 inhibitory properties of fluconazole, a potential interaction exists between these two agents that could influence the therapeutic effect of cyclophosphamide. To investigate this interaction, a retrospective case series of patients was chosen from a population of children with a previously established profile of cyclophosphamide metabolism. Twenty-two children who were not receiving other therapy known to influence drug metabolism were selected and analyzed in terms of fluconazole treatment; of these, nine were receiving fluconazole and thirteen were identified as controls. Study design was not randomized. The plasma clearance of cyclophosphamide was lower in patients receiving fluconazole [mean(SD) 2.4(0.71) versus 4.2(1.2) l/h/m2, p = .001]. In vitro studies were performed to characterize the interaction between fluconazole and cyclophosphamide in six human liver microsomes. The concentration of fluconazole required to reduce the production of 4-hydroxycyclophosphamide to 50% of control values (IC50) varied between 9 and 80 μM (median 38 μM). Further studies of the effect of fluconazole on 4-hydroxycyclophosphamide production in vivo are warranted to determine whether this interaction reduces the therapeutic effect of cyclophosphamide in clinical practice. The American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics