title: Immunosuppression withdrawal following liver transplantation.
abstract: Current immunosuppression regimens in liver transplantation provide excellent short-term survival rates but have many deleterious long-term side effects. They are therefore associated with the higher mortality and morbidity seen in liver transplant recipients compared to the general population and the notion that many liver transplant recipients are over-immunosuppressed is widely accepted. Liver allografts show a greater resistance to alloimmune responses than other solid organ transplants and recent research suggests up to 60% of highly selected recipients could wean off immunosuppression completely. In this review, we look at the evidence from immunosuppression withdrawal trials, the potential benefits of immunosuppression withdrawal and the identification of tolerant transplant recipients.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Liver Studies, King's College Hospital, Denmark Hill, SE5 9RS, London, UK. Electronic address: gavin.whitehouse@nhs.net.
authors.forename: Gavin P
authors.initials: GP
authors.lastname: Whitehouse
authors.affiliation: Institute of Liver Studies, King's College Hospital, Denmark Hill, SE5 9RS, London, UK. Electronic address: sanchez_fueyo@kcl.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Alberto
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sanchez-Fueyo
mesh_terms: D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D006801:Humans; D007165:Immunosuppression Therapy; D007166:Immunosuppressive Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D016031:Liver Transplantation; D013997:Time Factors; D028761:Withholding Treatment
chemical_list: D007166:Immunosuppressive Agents