A novel immunosuppression minimization protocol that has the capability of significantly improving intestinal transplant graft survival and minimizing rejection & infection rates was developed by Transplant researchers at the University of Pittsburgh’s Thomas E. Starzl Transplantation Institute.

The protocol was found effective for improving quality of life for patients along with providing help for avoiding too many anti-rejection drugs that could have resulted in severe infections and complications.

From News-Medical.Net:

The protocol involves giving a one-time pre-transplant dose of either the drug thymoglobulin – a drug that kills and depletes T cells – key immune system cells that target the donor organ, or a similar drug called campath, which depletes both T and B cells, immune system cells involved in organ rejection.

Following transplantation, the 103 patients who received thymoglobulin and the 20 patients who received campath received the standard anti-rejection drug tacrolimus and none of the patients received steroids. Tapering of tacrolimus was attempted after 120 days.

While 43 percent of patients experienced some level of rejection before initial weaning, none showed evidence of chronic rejection. Patients under the campath protocol did slightly better than those treated with thymoglobulin.

Kareem Abu-Elmagd, M.D., Ph.D., F.A.C.S., professor of surgery at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and director of the Intestinal Rehabilitation and Transplant Center at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center’s (UPMC) Thomas E. Starzl Transplantation Institute and lead author of the study, said the protocol has been found effective for reducing the quantity of anti-rejection drugs in this group of patients besides allowing them to live for long.