Nouvelles approches thérapeutiques des maladies autoimmunes

Transplantation and immunosuppression: a review of novel transplant-related immunosuppressant drugs

Immunosuppressive drugs used in the transplantation period are generally defined as induction and maintenance therapy. The use of immunosuppressants, which are particularly useful and have fewer side effects, decreased both mortality and morbidity. Many drugs such as steroids, calcineurin inhibitors (cyclosporine-A, tacrolimus), antimetabolites (mycophenolate mofetil, azathioprine), and mTOR inhibitors (sirolimus, everolimus) are used as immunosuppressive agents. Although immunosuppressant drugs cause many side effects such as hypertension, infection, and hyperlipidemia, they are the agents that should be used to prevent organ rejection. This shows the importance of individualized drug use. The optimal immunosuppressive therapy post-transplant is not established. Therefore, discovering less toxic but more potent new agents is of great importance, and new experimental and clinical studies are needed in this regard.Our review discussed the mechanism of immunosuppressants, new agents' discovery, and current therapeutic protocols in the transplantation.

Artemisinins and immune system

Artemisinins in combination with other antimalarial drugs remain the mainstay of current antimalarial armamentarium. It is interesting to note that many traditional drugs with antiprotozoal background can wield immunomodulation on the recipient's immune system in a positive or negative direction. Artemisinins also attribute immunomodulatory distensions. For instance, they demonstrate predominant immunosuppressive traits toward different immune components by particularly regulating the cellular proliferation and cytokine release, which indicates that they possess some additional mechanisms and features demanding deliberate attentions. This article reviews the data-based immunomodulatory effects of artemisinins on different immune cells including neutrophils, macrophages, splenocytes, T and B cells in conjunction with their therapeutic prospective with regard to inflammation, autoimmunity and delayed-type hypersensitivity.