Cellular Assay Guides Post-Transplant Therapy

A cellular assay of immune system function using a single drop of blood measures the vitality of a transplant patient's immune status. The assay allows doctors to tailor individual transplant patient immunosuppressant regimens to prevent organ rejection while avoiding infection.

ImmuKnow, a Cylex (Columbia, MD, USA) product, is currently incorporated into patient protocols at many U.S. hospitals and clinics. It is a standardized cellular assay, easily performed in the lab, with quick and accurate results. By optimizing therapy, the assay helps physicians lower the cost of treatment, reduce side-effects of drugs, and enhance patients' prospects for long-term quality of life.

The results from 17 clinical studies by independent research institutions, presented at the annual meeting of the World Transplant Congress (WTC) in Boston (MA, USA) in July 2006, supported the clinical role of ImmuKnow in assessing immune status of transplant patients. The research institutions were transplant centers in the United States, Spain, and Israel. The clinical results, related to the management of immune-system functioning of transplant patients, included a wide range of transplanted organs, such as kidney, liver, heart, lung, and pancreas.

The studies reported at the WTC included oral and poster sessions. Data from the Thomas E. Starzl Transplantation Institute at the University of Pittsburgh (PA, USA) showed that the Cylex assay was particularly useful in the detection of highly immunosuppressed pancreas transplant patients vulnerable to infection. The division of organ transplantation at Rhode Island Hospital (Providence, RI, USA) found that ImmuKnow was a useful guide in restarting immunosupression after lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus infection was cleared.

Clinicians at the University of Texas School of Medicine (Houston, TX, USA) reported on patient outcomes determined in part by ImmuKnow monitoring after early steroid withdrawal. Doctors from the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California Los Angeles (Los Angeles, CA, USA) used ImmuKnow to monitor pediatric heart-transplant patients. They concluded that their data "correlate immune response levels to clinical outcomes of stability and rejection.”



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