Cyclosporine--lessons from the first 20 years

The introduction of cyclosporine in clinical practice led to a dramatic increase in long-term graft survival. At the Transplantation Center of the University of Rome La Sapienza, the survival rate at 5, 10, and 20 years was 35%, 22%, and 20% in the precyclosporine era and 75%, 60%, and 45%, respectively, after the use of cyclosporine-based immunosuppressive therapy. However, because of the nephrotoxicity of this, drug efforts are being made to reduce or avoid the use of calcineurin inhibitors. We advocate tailoring of immunosuppression to a minimal level on the basis of immunologic tests that permit a quantitative and qualitative evaluation of regulatory and effector cells.