New Strategies to Treat or Prevent Post-Transplant Tumors

Ways to treat and prevent post-transplant tumors caused by complications in certain transplant patients were presented at Transplant 2001 in Chicago. The findings were reported by researchers from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine (PA, USA).

Post-transplant lymphoproliferative disorder (PTLD) is associated with the Epstein Barr virus (EBV), to which most people are eventually exposed. Many children and young adults who have not been exposed to EBV are especially susceptible to the virus and therefore to PTLD because they are taking drugs to control rejection. If an EBV-negative transplant patient is exposed or receives an organ positive for EBV, B cells in the patient's lymphoid tissue are likely to grow wildly to form cancerous tumors. Based on studies of how immune system cells react to PTLD-like tumor cells, investigator Diana M. Metes has concluded that introducing T cells primed to recognize EBV into patients at risk for PTLD would allow their immune systems to effectively fight the EBV virus. Dr. Metes is an assistant professor of surgery at the School of Medicine.

Pediatric transplant patients are especially at risk for developing PTLD and forming cancerous tumors resembling lymphoma. The standard treatment is to reduce or eliminate drugs taken to suppress the immune system and prevent organ rejection. In children who fail to respond, the tumors can progress and cause death. Many children face deadly consequences if protecting the organ from rejection and treating the tumors are not done with precision. Now, an eight-center study indicates that a drug called rituximab is effective for the majority of children who are not responsive to conventional PTLD treatment. Tumors disappeared in 14 of 16 children in the study, according to Steven Webber, associate professor of pediatrics at the School of Medicine.




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