A cell-based approach to the minimization of immunosuppression in renal transplantation.
Five renal transplant recipients were preoperatively treated with transplant acceptance-inducing cells (TAICs) in a Phase-I safety study of TAICs as an adjunct immune-conditioning therapy in living-donor kidney transplantation. Initially, patients received anti-thymocyte globulin induction therapy in combination with tacrolimus and steroid immunosuppression. Over the course of 12 weeks, steroids were withdrawn and tacrolimus therapy was minimized. Three of the five patients were able to tolerate low-dose tacrolimus monotherapy and one patient was withdrawn from all immunosuppression for over 8 months. No acute or delayed adverse events were associated with the infusion of TAICs. Monitoring of the recipient anti-donor reactivity of TAIC-treated patients in mixed lymphocyte cultures demonstrated that, during periods of clinically stable graft function, recipient T-cell proliferation and cytokine secretion in response to stimulation with donor alloantigen was relatively suppressed. Therefore, although the TAIC-II trial did not provide conclusive evidence of a beneficial effect of preoperative TAIC treatment, the results were encouraging because they suggest that TAICs promote a state of alloantigen-specific unresponsiveness, which might allow safe minimization of pharmacological immunosuppression.
Laboratory of Transplantation Research of the Clinic of General and Thoracic Surgery, University of Schleswig-Holstein, Kiel, Germany. james.hutchinson@uksh-kiel.de
James A
JA
Hutchinson
Beate G
BG
Brem-Exner
Paloma
P
Riquelme
Dave
D
Roelen
Maren
M
Schulze
Katrin
K
Ivens
Bernd
B
Grabensee
Oliver
O
Witzke
Thomas
T
Philipp
Lutz
L
Renders
Andreas
A
Humpe
Anna
A
Sotnikova
Martina
M
Matthäi
Asmus
A
Heumann
Felix
F
Gövert
Thilo
T
Schulte
Dieter
D
Kabelitz
Frans H J
FH
Claas
Edward K
EK
Geissler
Ulrich
U
Kunzendorf
Fred
F
Fändrich
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D064987:Cell- and Tissue-Based Therapy; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007165:Immunosuppression Therapy; D007166:Immunosuppressive Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D007262:Infusions, Intravenous; D007668:Kidney / Q000473:pathology; D016030:Kidney Transplantation / Q000276:immunology*; D019520:Living Donors; D008264:Macrophages / Q000276:immunology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D019172:Transplantation Conditioning; D023001:Transplantation Tolerance / Q000276:immunology
D007166:Immunosuppressive Agents