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The additional patients described by Sykes are the first treated under a multi-institutional study sponsored by the Immune Tolerance Network (ITN) and funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, and the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. The third, transplanted more than a year ago, remains in remission from myeloma, and although continuing to receive low-dose immunosuppression because of mild graft-versus-host disease, has had no episodes of kidney rejection. The fourth patient now is 70 days post-transplant and has discontinued immunosuppression. Led by Sykes and A. Benedict Cosimi, MD, director of the MGH Transplant Unit, the ITN-sponsored study will eventually enroll 10 patients with both kidney failure and multiple myleoma at the MGH and two collaborating centers.

"Our results demonstrate that long-lasting tolerance can be induced with non-myeloablative bone marrow transplantation," says Sykes, who also is professor of Surgery and Medicine (Immunology) at Harvard Medical School. "Our group also is starting a new study of the induction of mixed chimerism for tolerance in patients without cancer who need kidney tranplants." That investigation, also sponsored by the Immune Tolerance Network, is being led by David Sachs, MD, director of the MGH TBRC, and Cosimi.

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Contact: Sue McGreevey
smcgreevey@partners.org
617-724-2764
Massachusetts General Hospital
26-Aug-2002