Targeting the Protein LFA-1 Brings Transplant Rejection to a Halt
Organ transplantation has changed the life of many individuals. However, outcomes remain sub-optimal, with poor long-term graft survival and severe side effects associated with the current drugs that need to be taken by transplant recipients to stop their immune cells rejecting the transplanted organs. Christian Larsen, an ACTSI investigator, and colleagues, at Emory University, Atlanta, have now developed a new immuosuppressive protocol that substantially prolongs the survival of transplanted pancreatic islets in nonhuman primates. Specifically, they added short-term treatment with a molecule that targets the protein LFA-1 on immune cells known as T cells to long-term treatment with drug combinations that have previously failed to prevent graft rejection in nonhuman primates. Read more...