U NLIKE in kidney transplantation, graft survival was not influenced by the degree of HLA matching in human liver transplantation. In fact, our preliminary results revealed that 0 DR-matched liver transplant patients had inferior graft survival rates compared with those of 1 or 2 DR-mismatched transplants. 1 FK 506 is a new, powerful immunosuppressant, and it is effective for both liver and kid...

PK 506 is an immunosuppressive drug that holds par· ticular promise for pediatric patients because of its potency. relatively low toxicity. and simplicity of administration.1.2 Above all advantages is elimination of the need for adjuvant steroid therapy in the majority of cases. It was introduced for clinical trials in pediatric patients in September 1989. We report here our total experience wi...

I T IS generally recognized that at steady-state conditions less than 10% of cyclosporine (CyA)1.2 or FK 5063 is excreted by the kidney and that renal function has little or no effect on the blood or plasma levels of either of these two drugs. Experimental studies, however, have shown that animals with severely impaired renal function have higher blood CyA trough levels than do controls.4 .5 Th...

THE ~aj~r bame~ in clinical transplantation has been the hmltatlon ot donor organs. I Xenotransplantation has been considered an alternative source of organs, however strong immunolOgiC barriers are thought to make this option impractical. The immunosuppressant FK 506 has been shown to be several hundred times more potent than cyclosporine (CyA)2.) and it is capable of suppressing antibody prod...