Organ transplant patients are given a drug called cyclosporine to surpress the bodies defenses against the?

Question

transplanted organ. Why is this necessary? Help?

Answer 1

The previous poster is correct--in organ transplant, the body will attack the transplanted tissue as foreign and try to destroy it.  Cyclosporine works against one arm of the body's immune system--certain kinds of cells called T-cells.  It was the first drug approved for the specific purpose of preventing transplant rejection and it really made transplant possible.

The huge advantage that cyclosporine had when it was discovered was that it only took out that one branch of immunity--before that the only option was to give the patient tons of steroids, which depress pretty much the entire immune system, so you could die of something else that your body would otherwise have been able to fight off.  It turns out that if you dial down the T-cells but keep the other parts of the immune system functioning, you can usually strike a balance between not attacking your new organ and not getting pneumonia every time you step out of the house.  

Cyclosporine is still a mainstay of treatment, but there are newer drugs that are less nephrotoxic (bad for your kidneys) and usually now they give more than one drug, so they can all work together and you don't have to take as much of any one of them.

Answer 2

The body recognizes all foreign organic material as a danger to itself. So it mounts defences to kill the foreign material.

The body can attack a foreign organ as easily as it can kill off germs or infections.

This is what the immune system does

So, suprress the immune system until the body either accepts the organ, or for life

Answer 3

i had a double transplant 5 1/2 years ago.those drugs  are to trick the brain  to think that these organs are mine because it is a foreign object and by nature your body tries to get rid of t. these drugs will help your body work with the new organs instead of trying to force them out. these drugs are a small price to pay for me to live a normal life.