Years Of Immunosuppressive Therapy Research Articles

Skin lesions in renal transplant patients after 10-23 years of immunosuppressive therapy.

Ninety-eight patients with 10-23 years of uninterrupted immunosuppressive therapy due to renal transplants were investigated for signs of skin disease. Thirty-seven per cent had or had had premalignant or malignant skin lesions. This is significantly different from a control population (p less than 0.0001). There was also a correlation between the length of the immunosuppressive therapy and the risk of acquiring squamous cell skin cancers (p less than 0.05). Fifty-five per cent had common viral warts at the time of the present examination. The duration of immunosuppressive therapy also correlated with the presence of warts (p less than 0.01). Seven patients had mycosis and four patients had seborrheic eczema. In one-third of the patients the skin appeared normal.

Erythroleukemia in a renal transplant recipient

A 53-year-old male developed acute erythroleukemia three years after renal transplantation. He had received three years of immunosuppressive therapy with azathioprine. A preleukemia phase associated with chromosome abnormalities was recognized. Azathioprine has been associated with chromosome abnormalities. The chronic stimulation of an abnormal erythroid clone by transplantation may have hastened the development of erythroleukemia.

Sequestration of Pha-Responsive Cells (T-Lymphocytes) in the Bone Marrow of Leukemic Children Undergoing Long-Term Immunosuppressive Therapy

Abstract Although data from experimental models suggest that certain immunocompetent units are preferentially inhibited by drugs, the suppressive effects of chemotherapy upon various cell compartments in man have not been characterized. In this study we compared the effect of long-term combination chemotherapy upon T-lymphocytes in the bone marrow and peripheral blood of children with acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL) in remission. The “in vitro” response to phytohemagglutinin (PHA) was used as index of T-lymphocyte function. After 2 to 3 years of immunosuppressive therapy, in half of the patients the response to PHA was significantly greater in bone marrow than in peripheral blood cultures. This contrasts with the results obtained after cessation of chemotherapy when 14 of 15 patients had greater response in peripheral blood than in bone marrow. We conclude that in some children with ALL in remission, long-term immunosuppressive therapy produces a relative increment of a PHA-responsive cell population in bone marrow, possibly by a selective sequestration of T-cells in this compartment.