New antirejection drugs

Immunosuppressive therapies to abrogate host reactivity to allografts have been applied since the early days of clinical transplantation. However, new immunosuppressive agents and treatment protocols are constantly evolving. Advances in our understanding of basic immune mechanisms have stimulated novel strategies for controlling graft rejection. T-cells play a central role in the specific immune response of allograft rejection, and strategies to prevent T-cell activation or effector function are thus potentially useful for immunosuppression. During the last few years numerous new immunosuppressive compounds have entered early and late phases of development for transplant immunomodulation. This review aims to define the field of antirejection drugs as it currently exists and to examine what the future holds by considering new compounds which have appeared recently in the patent literature.