title: Cell therapy for immunosuppression after kidney transplantation.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To give an overview over cell therapeutic approaches to immunosuppression in clinical kidney transplantation. A focus is on myeloid suppressor cell therapy by mitomycin C-induced cells (MICs).
  
  
  METHODS
  Literature review with an emphasis on already existing therapies.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Several cell therapeutic approaches to immunosuppression and donor-specific unresponsiveness are now being tested in early phase I and phase II trials in clinical kidney transplantation. Cell products such as regulatory T cells or regulatory macrophages, or other myeloid suppressor cell therapies, may either consist of donor-specific, third-party, or autologous cell preparations. Major problems are the identification of the suppressive cell populations and their expansion to have sufficient amount of cells to achieve donor unresponsiveness (e.g., with regulatory T cells). We show a simple and safe way to establish donor unresponsiveness in living-donor kidney transplantation by MIC therapy. A phase I clinical trial is now under way to test the safety and efficacy of this cell therapeutic approach.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Cell therapeutic approaches to immunosuppression after kidney transplantation may revolutionize clinical transplantation in the future.
authors.affiliation: Division of Nephrology, University of Heidelberg, Im Neuenheimer Feld 162, 69120, Heidelberg, Germany, christian.morath@med.uni-heidelberg.de.
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Morath
authors.forename: Anita
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Schmitt
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zeier
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Schmitt
authors.forename: Flavius
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Sandra-Petrescu
authors.forename: Gerhard
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Opelz
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Terness
authors.forename: Matthias
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Schaier
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Kleist
mesh_terms: D064987:Cell- and Tissue-Based Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D006085:Graft Survival; D006801:Humans; D007108:Immune Tolerance; D007165:Immunosuppression Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D016030:Kidney Transplantation