Acute rejection is a primary cause of death in heart transplant recipients.
A promising new treatment daclizumab, under investigation at the Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center, has been shown to decrease the frequency of rejection without increasing the incidence of infection in heart transplant recipients for a three-month period following transplantation. Initial findings are reported in the March 2 issue of The New England Journal of Medicine. Traditionally, post-operative transplant patients are treated with monoclonal or polyclonal antibodies to decrease frequency and severity of early organ rejection. Although these non-targeted therapies have been successful in delaying rejection, their side effects cause global immunosuppression in patients which, in turn, increases patients' risk for infection and cancer. The primary mediator of solid organ rejection is the activated T-cell.