By Cristina D’Imperio
Over the past 70 years in the U.S., immunosuppression regimens used in organ transplants have evolved significantly. However, long-term immunosuppressant use can cause organ transplant recipients to experience side effects such as cancer, diabetes, kidney failure, and greater susceptibility to viral, bacterial, and fungal infections.
Abhinav Humar, MD, McGowan affiliated faculty and Clinical Director of the Thomas E. Starzl Transplantation Institute recently published early-stage clinical trial results indicating the potential for transplantation without the need for long-term immunosuppression.
In a Phase 1 trial, Dr. Humar and a team of researchers enrolled 15 patients who were scheduled to receive a living donor transplant. These patients received an immune cell infusion from their donor one week prior to undergoing transplant surgery.
Researchers then compared the patients who received the immune cell infusion to 40 living donor transplant patients who did not receive the infusion. All patients were given immunosuppressant drugs post-surgery.
One year after surgery, researchers found that patients who received the infusion had fewer immune cells that had the potential to react negatively to their transplanted organ.
Senior author and Distinguished Professor of Surgery and Immunology at the University of Pittsburgh, Angus W. Thomson, PhD, DSc, stated that the donor-derived infusion was “preemptively conditioning the prospective [liver] recipient to see donor cells as safe.”
“These trial results are very encouraging,” continued Dr. Thomson. “Right now, we’re seeing preliminary evidence that this intervention is modifying the recipient’s immune response in such a way that we may be able to safely reduce — or even withdraw — immunosuppression. It would be a significant service to the transplantation community if patients are no longer dependent indefinitely on immunosuppressants.”
The study, titled “Donor-derived regulatory dendritic cell infusion modulates effector CD8+ T cell and NK cell responses after liver transplantation,” is published in Science Translational Medicine and can be read here in its entirety.
Read more from UPMC here.