Background: This risk of vancomycin (VAN)-associated acute kidney injury (AKI) may be altered with combination regimens. The specific AKI risk when VAN is combined with imipenem-cilastatin/relebactam (IMP-C/REL) or piperacillin/tazobactam (TZP) has not been clearly defined.
Objectives: To quantify the dose-AKI relationships of VAN alone and in combination with TZP or imipenem-cilastatin/relebactam (IMP-C/REL).
Methods: Ten to twelve week old male C57BL/6J mice (Charles River Laboratory) we re dosed with study drug regimens in three stages. Stage 1 consisted of a VAN dose-ranging design (0-600 mg/kg/day) over a 7-day period to identify the VAN monotherapy dose-AKI relationship in the murine model. Stage 2 evaluated the approximate VAN dose eliciting 50% AKI response in Stage 1 in combination with the highest human equivalent doses (HED) used in pre-clinical murine models (2.5 g/kg/day of TZP, 320 mg/kg/day of IMP-C/REL). Stage 3 tested these combinations with fractionated doses of TZP or IMP-C/REL administered at 6- and 12-hour intervals. In these studies, AKI was defined both by biomarkers (serum creatinine [SCr], blood urea nitrogen [BUN]) and histopathological assessment by a treatment-blinded pathologist.
Results: VAN doses of 300 to 500 mg/kg/day reproducibly led to development of AKI within 4 days of dosing. Mice treated with VAN alone had a near doubling of their baseline SCr and BUN compared to control, IMP-C/REL alone, or TZP alone. Both VAN+IMP-C /REL and VAN+TZP had significantly (p<0.05) lower SCr and BUN values compared to VAN alone when dosed once daily. This nephroprotective effect was retained with VAN+IMP-C/REL, but not VAN+TZP, when IMP-C/REL and TZP were administered every 6 hours. Biomarker results were concordant with histopathologic findings.
Conclusions: The VAN dose-AKI relationship can be attenuated with single daily HEDs of TZP or IMP-C/REL in mice. IMP-C/REL, but not TZP, retained a nephroprotective effect compared to VAN monotherapy when administered as fractionated doses.