Suppression of Acute Rejection Prevents Graft Arteriosclerosis After Allogeneic Aorta Transplantation in the Rat

The Role of Cyclosporine A in the Treatment of Prosthetic Vascular Graft Infections with the Use of Arterial Homografts

“…In his experimental trial, Azuma et al observed that lack or discontinuation of the intake of immunosuppressive medications caused the degradation of the arterial graft's wall and loss of the endothelial cells (Azuma et al,1999). It was also proven that insufficient dosages of these drugs caused an impaired functioning of the transplanted artery Geerling et al,1994;Stoltenberg et al,1995). In our study, the increase in activity of CD3+ and CD4+ lymphocytes and the decrease in activity of CD8+ lymphocytes (probably caused by the increase of the infiltration of the homograft's wall by these cells) in transplanted patients suggest arterial allograft's antigenicity.A larger decrease in CD3+ and CD4+ lymphocyte activity and a smaller decrease in CD8+ lymphocyte activity were observed in patients treated with Cyclosporine A than in those treated without immunosuppression.…”

Proliferation signal inhibitors and cardiac allograft vasculopathy

“…Even a single preoperative intravenous dose of SRL significantly reduced the incidence of cardiac allograft arteriopathy in cyclosporin-treated rats [33]. In the rat aortic allograft model, a dose of 3 mg/kg three times per week effectively prevented both acute rejection and graft arteriopathy and was as effective as high-dose cyclosporin therapy [34].…”

Stem cell origins of intimal cells in graft arterial disease

“…A number of workers have shown that although acute rejection episodes do not strictly correlate with the development of GAD, transient acute rejection may potentiate the process [14,15]. Consequently, GAD likely occurs predominantly as a consequence of immune-mediated allospecific vascular injury in grafts [1], most likely a form of delayedtype hypersensitivity.…”