TY - JOUR
T1 - The potential of GM-CSF to improve resistance against infections in organ transplantation
AU - Xu, Jian
AU - Lucas, Rudolf
AU - Wendel, Albrecht
PY - 2004/1/1
Y1 - 2004/1/1
N2 - Immunosuppressed patients retain transplants but become more susceptible to opportunistic infections, which is a major complication in organ transplantation. Life-long immunosuppression for such patients could be reduced by creating immune tolerance, although this might be associated with an increased risk for infections and malignancies. An alternative therapeutic concept could consist of boosting the innate immune response against infections while continuing to suppress the adaptive immune response to prevent graft rejection. We propose granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) as a novel candidate to achieve this goal, based on recent studies in which beneficial effects were demonstrated in immunosuppressed mice with skin allografts and in dexamethasone-suppressed blood from healthy volunteers and blood from liver transplant recipients undergoing immunosuppressive therapy. Such data suggest that GM-CSF or other endogenous factors with similar properties should be examined in clinical trials.
AB - Immunosuppressed patients retain transplants but become more susceptible to opportunistic infections, which is a major complication in organ transplantation. Life-long immunosuppression for such patients could be reduced by creating immune tolerance, although this might be associated with an increased risk for infections and malignancies. An alternative therapeutic concept could consist of boosting the innate immune response against infections while continuing to suppress the adaptive immune response to prevent graft rejection. We propose granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) as a novel candidate to achieve this goal, based on recent studies in which beneficial effects were demonstrated in immunosuppressed mice with skin allografts and in dexamethasone-suppressed blood from healthy volunteers and blood from liver transplant recipients undergoing immunosuppressive therapy. Such data suggest that GM-CSF or other endogenous factors with similar properties should be examined in clinical trials.
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U2 - 10.1016/j.tips.2004.03.007
DO - 10.1016/j.tips.2004.03.007
M3 - Article
C2 - 15120491
AN - SCOPUS:2142659293
SN - 0165-6147
VL - 25
SP - 254
EP - 258
JO - Trends in Pharmacological Sciences
JF - Trends in Pharmacological Sciences
IS - 5
ER -