Immunosuppression — The Promise of Specificity

The success of organ transplantation owes much to improvements in the immunosuppressive regimens that prevent or suppress allograft rejection. Nevertheless, the potent immunosuppressive drugs that are now in general use increase susceptibility to infection and cancer and can also have adverse effects not directly related to immunosuppression.Conventional immunosuppressive agents affect not only immune cells but also other cells. Glucocorticoids, for example, can cause a myriad of side effects,1 but these harmful actions are often minimized by combining glucocorticoids with other immunosuppressive medications. In use since the early days of transplantation, small-molecule immunosuppressive drugs act by targeting DNA or proteins . . .