GVH disease, however, is very common, occurring in the majority of patients who receive an allogeneic transplant. GVH disease occurs because donor T cells fail to recognize the patient’s skin, liver, and gut (usually) as self and attack those tissues. Although patients are given immunosuppressive therapy (cyclosporine, methotrexate, and others) early in the transplant course to help prevent this development, it often occurs despite these medications. Acute GVH disease occurs within the first 100 days and is usually manifested as a skin rash, severe diarrhea, or hepatotoxicity. Additional medications are added, invariably starting with high-dose corticosteroids and adding drugs such as mycophenolate mofetil, sirolimus, tacrolimus, daclizumab, and others, with variable success rates. Patients generally progress to chronic GVH disease (after 100 days) and require therapy for variable periods thereafter. Unlike solid-organ transplant patients, however, most stem cell transplant patients are able to eventually discontinue immunosuppressive drugs as GVH disease resolves (usually 1–2 years after their transplant).
The effectiveness of immunosuppressive drugs in autoimmune disorders varies widely. Nonetheless, with immunosuppressive therapy, remissions can be obtained in many instances of autoimmune hemolytic anemia, idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura, type 1 diabetes, Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, and temporal arteritis. Improvement is also often seen in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus, acute glomerulonephritis, acquired factor VIII inhibitors (antibodies), rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory myopathy, scleroderma, and certain other autoimmune states.
Immunosuppressive therapy is utilized in chronic severe asthma, where cyclosporine is often effective and sirolimus is another alternative (see Chapter 20). Omalizumab (anti-IgE antibody) has been approved for the treatment of severe asthma (see previous section). Tacrolimus is currently under clinical investigation for the management of autoimmune chronic active hepatitis and of multiple sclerosis, where IFN-β has a definitive role.
The development of agents that modulate the immune response rather than suppress it has become an important area of pharmacology. The rationale underlying this approach is that such drugs may increase the immune responsiveness of patients who have either selective or generalized immunodeficiency. The major potential uses are in immunodeficiency disorders, chronic infectious diseases, and cancer. The AIDS epidemic has greatly increased interest in developing more effective immunomodulating drugs.
The cytokines are a large and heterogeneous group of proteins with diverse functions. Some are immunoregulatory proteins synthesized by leukocytes and play numerous interacting roles in the function of the immune system and in the control of hematopoiesis. The cytokines that have been clearly identified are summarized in Table 55–2. In most instances, cytokines mediate their effects through receptors on relevant target cells and appear to act in a manner similar to the mechanism of action of hormones. In other instances, cytokines may have antiproliferative, antimicrobial, and antitumor effects.
The first group of cytokines discovered, the interferons (IFNs), were followed by the colony-stimulating factors (CSFs, discussed
TABLE 55–2 The cytokines.
Note: Many interleukin activities overlap and are influenced by each other. HCF, hematopoietic cofactor; LAK, lymphokine-activated killer cell.
in Chapter 33). The latter regulate the proliferation and differentiation of bone marrow progenitor cells. Most of the more recently discovered cytokines have been classified as interleukins (ILs) and numbered in the order of their discovery. Pharmaceutical cytokines are produced using gene cloning techniques.