Extracorporeal photopheresis: Lighting the way to immunomodulation.
Photopheresis, initially established as an effective treatment of cutaneous T-cell lymphoma, has in recent years also been used to treat chronic graft vs. host disease, heart transplant rejection, and several other conditions requiring immunosuppression. Despite reported beneficial results of this procedure in treatment of various conditions, randomized controlled clinical trials are lacking for the majority of suggested indications. Furthermore, the mechanisms of action of this procedure are still unclear. Deeper understanding of the molecular basis of photopheresis-based immunomodulation will allow better selection of patients to be treated and will facilitate development of novel, minimally toxic immunomodulatory treatments.
Babic
Aleksandar M
AM
Department of Pathology, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Joint Program in Transfusion Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA. ababic@partners.org
D000818:Animals; D002908:Chronic Disease; D006086:Graft vs Host Disease / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D007108:Immune Tolerance / Q000276:immunology*; D016410:Lymphoma, T-Cell, Cutaneous / Q000276:immunology / Q000628:therapy; D016377:Organ Transplantation; D017893:Photopheresis