| News From Transplant Week of December 2, 2001 / Vol. 2 No. 48 |
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Project to Explore Ways of Reducing Transplant Immunosuppression |
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The Naval Medical Research Center and the University of Maryland School of Medicine have embarked on a five-year research project that will explore ways to prevent organ rejection without use of immunosuppressive drugs, particularly corticosteroids such as prednisone. While the goal of the project, funded by $24 million in grants from the Office of Naval Research, is to find better ways of treating injuries that frequently result from combat, the research should benefit all patients who need solid organ transplants. "About 10 to 15 percent of all combat-related injuries lead to a major loss of tissue that could potentially benefit from composite tissue transplantation," says Dr. Allan D. Kirk of the Navy Medical Research Center Transplantation Laboratory. "Unfortunately, the medications required to prevent rejection of these types of transplants are too toxic to justify their use in non-life threatening conditions. In addition, composite tissue grafts seem to be more vigorously rejected and tend to need better anti-rejection therapy than is available today." A key feature of the research will be to test the elimination of corticosteriod drugs like prednisone following a transplant. These drugs can cause serious side effects, including diabetes, hypertension, bone thinning, weight gain and cataracts. "We will be testing many approaches in the laboratory and in clinical trials," said Dr. Stephen T. Bartlett, chief of transplant surgery at the University of Maryland. "In general, we will be targeting specific cells or receptors rather than the entire immune system. This targeted approach would enable the rest of the immune system to function more normally." "Results of our work will benefit all patients who need organ or tissue transplants," added. Bartlett. Other sources: University of Maryland
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