Current treatment practice in immunosuppression

Gaetano Ciancio*, George W. Burke, Joshua Miller

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

23 Scopus citations

Abstract

New drugs have recently been added that may eventually replace the two-decade dominance of cyclosporin in solid organ transplantation. This cornerstone of immunosuppression was introduced by Borel [1] and Calne [2] in the mid-70s. In 1989, Starzl et al., after 2 years of preclinical experimentation, introduced tacrolimus (originally designated as FK506 by the Fujisawa Pharmaceutical Company of Japan) as a potent immunosuppressant for liver transplants [31. Also, in recent years, a variety of novel purine and pyrimidine biosynthesis inhibitors have been tested for transplantation therapy. The leading agent which appears to be replacing the 35-year position occupied by azathioprine is the semi-synthetic morpholinoethyl ester of mycophenolic acid (MPA), mycophenolate mofetil (MMF), introduced by Allison [4] and Sollinger [5], and developed by the Syntex Corporation (now Roche Pharmaceuticals). Others, affecting different intraor intercellular messages amplifying immunity, are in the pipeline.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)1307-1330
Number of pages24
JournalExpert Opinion on Pharmacotherapy
Volume1
Issue number7
DOIs
StatePublished - 2000

Keywords

  • Immimosuppression
  • Intestinal transplant
  • Kidney transplant
  • Liver transplant
  • Pancreas transplant
  • Rejection

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Pharmacology (medical)
  • Pharmacology

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