Cancer drug cuts organ rejection in transplant cases

Published on Saturday 27 December 2008 18:51

A BLOOD cancer drug can help prevent organ rejection in transplant patients, scientists have found.

The drug bortezomib is designed to treat multiple myeloma, which affects white blood plasma cells.

New research shows that it can also prevent the immune system's antibodies attacking transplanted kidneys as bortezomib targets B-lymphocytes, the white blood cells that produce antibodies.

Previously it was thought that T-cells, another type of immune system cell, were chiefly responsible for the rejection of transplant organs.

Dr Steve Woodle, from the University of Cincinnati in the United States, who led the research, said: "We found a body of literature demonstrating that bortezomib works well in suppressing transplant rejection in the laboratory. Moreover, it worked well in models of auto-immune disease.

"It has become clear that plasma cells and the antibodies they produce play a bigger role in rejection than previously thought, and the development of therapies targeting these cells has lagged."

Woodle's team gave the drug to six kidney transplant patients whose organ rejection was resistant to treatment.

In each case, bortezomib caused a reversal of the rejection reaction. It also produced prolonged reductions in antibody levels and improved organ function.

The findings are published in the latest edition of the journal Transplantation.

Study co-author Jason Everly, a pharmacist specialising in cancer, said bortezomib had fewer side effects than other anti-cancer agents.

"We are pleased to see its toxicities are similar in transplant recipients suffering from treatment-resistant mixed organ rejection," he said. "We hope it will be a viable treatment option in this group."

The researchers are now conducting four industry-supported clinical trials to expand their findings.