Basic immunosuppressive drugs outside solid organ transplantation

Abstract

Immunosuppressive drugs are the backbone of solid organ transplantation. The introduction of new immunosuppressive drugs led to improved patient and organ survival rates. Nowadays, acute rejection can be reduced to a minimum. Individualisation and avoidance of drug-related adverse effects became a new goal to achieve. The potency of immunosuppressive drugs makes them attractive for use in various autoimmune diseases; therefore, the experience on immunosuppressive drugs outside the field of organ transplantation is analysed in this review.

Keywords::

• autoimmune disease
• autoimmune hepatitis
• azathioprine
• Crohn´s disease
• ciclosporin
• glucocorticosteroids
• immunosuppressive drugs
• multiple sclerosis
• myasthenia gravis
• mycophenolate mofetil
• primary biliary cirrhosis
• primary sclerosing cholangitis
• psoriasis
• psoriatic arthritis
• pyoderma gangrenosum
• rheumatoid arthritis
• sirolimus
• tacrolimus
• ulcerative colitis