TREATMENT that might enable people to live with transplanted tissue without
having to take immunosuppressive drugs for the rest of their lives has edged a
step closer.
After being given an antibody and the immunosuppressive drug cyclosporin A
for just two weeks, mice accepted a transplant without short-term “acute”
rejection. More importantly, the organs did not suffer long-term “chronic”
rejection, the relentless attrition experienced by a foreign organ once it has
survived the initial onslaught.
At the moment, the only way for transplant patients to avoid chronic
rejection is to keep taking immunosuppressive drugs. But this makes them
vulnerable to…
