position of the drug in vivo. (HEPATOLOGY 1996;23:1429-Therapy with tacrine, a promising new treatment for 1435.) Alzheimer's disease, must be discontinued in up to 15% of patients because of hepatocellular toxicity. Recent studies using human liver microsomes have suggested that a single liver enzyme, cytochrome P450 1A2 Tacrine (1,2,3,4-tetrahydro-9 acridinamine monohy-(CYP1A2), catalyzes the major route of metabolism and drochloride monohydrate; Cognex, Parke Davis Pharelimination of tacrine, and also catalyzes the pathway(s) maceuticals, Morris Plains, NJ), a potent acetylcholininvolved in the generation of reactive metabolites capa-esterase inhibitor, is the first therapeutic agent shown ble of covalent protein binding and cytotoxicity. Because to have significant benefit in the treatment of cognitive CYP1A2 activity has been shown to vary up to 60-fold deficits in patients with Alzheimer's disease. [1][2][3][4][5] It has among patients, we proposed that a convenient measure been estimated that approximately 3 to 4 million sured CYP3A4 and CYP2D6 activities also failed to predict the susceptible patients. However, the result of the However, susceptibility to tacrine liver toxicity clearly standardized-dose CBT correlated well with the loga-varies greatly in the Alzheimer's population, and at rithm of the steady-state plasma tacrine level obtained least two patients receiving tacrine have developed in 10 patients (R 2 Ă… .69, P Ă… .003). We conclude that the clinical jaundice indicative of severe hepatocellular in-CBT will not be clinically useful in determining the sub-jury. 8,9 A liver biopsy obtained in one of these patients set of patients most susceptible to tacrine hepatotoxic-revealed massive centrilobular necrosis. 8 In light of the ity. However, the correlation we observed between the potential risk for serious liver injury and the fact that CBT results and tacrine blood levels is the first evidence patients with serum transaminase elevations are gen-