New data from the ONE study has suggested that the use of cell-based medicinal products is a potential measure to enable minimization of immunosuppression. The use of non-specific immunosuppressive agents is important to prevent host versus graft rejection or graft versus host disease. However, when used for longer duration, immunosuppression can cause acute and chronic toxic reactions, opportunistic infections, malignancy, kidney failure and other organ damage. In view of this, the ONE study reported that regulatory cell therapy can be a potential agent to achieve immunosuppression.

The ONE study analysed six parallel clinical trials that tested the safety and efficacy of different T_reg cells and monocyte -derived cells in equivalent patient populations of living-donor kidney transplant recipients. After the kidney transplantation, the immune cell imbalance existed in the reference group trial, while onthe other hand, it was mostly corrected in patients who received cell therapies. Additionally, the patients who received cell therapy displayed strong demethylation in the promoter region of the FOXP3 gene as an indicator of stable T_reg cells.

The results of the study established that immune cell therapy can be used efficiently to wean a substantial proportion of living-donor kidney transplant recipients onto tacrolimus monotherapy. The researchers founded that the cell therapy can restore the immune system towards a more normal, non-inflammatory state may be indicative that this strategy may be beneficial.

Source: Mathew JM, Leventhal JR. Cell therapy can enable minimization of immunosuppression. Nature Reviews. Nephrology. Mathew, J. M., & Leventhal, J. R. (2020). Cell therapy can enable minimization of immunosuppression. Nature Reviews Nephrology. doi:10.1038/s41581-020-0330-5