or immunosuppressants are drugs that are used in immunosuppressive therapy to inhibit or prevent activity of the immune system. Clinically they are used to:
• prevent the rejection of transplanted organs and tissues (e.g. bone marrow, heart, kidney, liver)
• treatment of autoimmune diseases or diseases that are most likely of autoimmune origin (e.g. rheumatoid arthritis, myasthenia gravis, systemic lupus erythematosus, Crohn's disease, and ulcerative colitis).
• treatment of some other non-autoimmune inflammatory diseases (eg. long term Allergic Asthma control).
These drugs are not without side effects and risks. Because the majority of them act non-selectively, the immune system loses its ability to successfully resist infections and spreading of malignant cells. There are also other side effects, like hypertension, dyslipidemia, hyperglycemia, peptic ulcers, liver and kidney injury. The immunosuppressive drugs also interact with other medicines and affect their metabolism and action.
Immunosuppressive drugs can be classified into five groups:
•glucocorticoids
•cytostatics
•antibodies
•drugs acting on immunophilins
•other drugs
