A scientist in Australia has claimed that delaying the use of immunosuppressants following liver transplantation may help to prevent rejection of the organ.
New Scientist magazine reported on December 12 that Alex Bishop of Centenary Institute in Sydney tested his idea by transplanting kidneys or livers into rats. "Within days, the number of activated T cells that had undergone apoptosis, or naturally programmed cell death, was far higher in the transplanted livers than in the kidneys, which were rejected. But when the rats received the immunosuppressant drug methylprednisolone along with a new liver, far fewer apoptotic T cells appeared in the organ," the magazine explained on its website (www.newscientist.com/ns/981212/newsstory10.html).
If immunosuppressants similarly disrupt the liver's ability to induce tolerance in people, "problems with rejection may be reduced by delaying the use of such drugs," New Scientist said.
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