Regulatory T cells in renal transplantation and modulation by immunosuppression.

The poor long-term graft survival rate counteracts the important advance that transplantation is for end-stage renal disease patients. This is mainly due to the employment of immunosuppression that inhibits nonspecifically the alloimmune response to avoid graft rejection, but, at the same time, brings a number of adverse effects leading to chronic rejection. Thus, the major goal in transplantation is to reach an absence of immune response towards donor alloantigens without the need of long-term immunosuppressant drugs.