Rapamycin and Regulatory T Cells in Kidney Transplantation
Status:
Completed
Trial end date:
2013-06-01
Target enrollment:
Participant gender:
Summary
The immune system response is mediated by the interaction between the antigen presenting cell
(APC), CD4+ T helper cells (Th) and CD4+ CD25+ regulatory T cells, a subgroup of CD4+ T cell
which express IL-2 receptor (CD25) and the transcriptional factor foxp3. Regulatory T cell
may contribute to the maintenance of tolerance by suppressing the immune response to normal
or tumor associated antigens.
Regulatory T cell emerge from the thymus during ontogenesis and they represent about 10 % of
the peripheral Cd4+ t cells.
Rapamycin is one the most use treatment to prevent renal allograft failure. Differently from
calcineurin inhibitors (cyclosporine and tacrolimus), that inhibit T-cell activation through
the inhibition of calcineurin activation, rapamycin inhibits cellular proliferation by
impairing the progression of the cellular cycle, in particular by interaction with mTOR.
Recently Battaglia et al. have demonstrated a Treg amplification in murine CD4+ lymphocytes
treated with rapamycin in vitro.
Aim of the study is to evaluate the effect of different immunosuppressive regimens on
regulatory T cell and to verify the hypothesis that rapamycin may induce tolerance in kidney
transplanted patients, more than cyclosporine treatment.