The new immunosuppression

✍ Scribed by Herman Waldmann

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 2003
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 201 KB
• Volume: 7
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1367-5931
• DOI: 10.1016/s1367-5931(03)00076-0

✦ Synopsis

New knowledge on how lymphocytes become tolerant to antigens is now enabling novel tolerance-harnessing strategies to enter the clinical arena. In the field of transplantation, monoclonal antibodies used either to deplete lymphocytes or to block T-cell function can induce tolerance in mice and nonhuman primates. Understanding the mechanisms underlying tolerance should enable application to the clinic. Harnessing of tolerance mechanisms may enable more judicious use of conventional immunosuppressive agents even to the point of maintenance monotherapy, so limiting drug side effects and ensuring compliance.