A prospective interventional study on the use of extracorporeal photopheresis in patients with bronchiolitis obliterans syndrome after lung transplantation.

BACKGROUND: The aim of this prospective study was to evaluate the efficacy and safety of extracorporeal photopheresis (ECP) in patients with bronchiolitis obliterans syndrome (BOS) after lung transplantation and to identify factors predicting treatment response. METHODS: The study was performed at a single center and consisted of a cohort of 1,012 lung transplant recipients (November 1989-June 2010). A total of 194 patients developed BOS after a mean of 1,293 ± 1,008 days (range, 99-4,949 days) and received established treatment, and 51 patients received additional ECP. RESULTS: Thirty-one (61%) of the ECP-treated patients responded to the therapy and showed sustained stabilization (forced expiratory volume in 1 second range, -5% to 5% vs baseline at start of ECP) of lung function over 6 months. Responders to ECP showed significantly greater survival and less need for retransplantation (p = 0.001) than non-responders. Factors associated with an inferior treatment response were cystic fibrosis as underlying lung disease and a longer time between transplantation and development of BOS. No side effects were observed after ECP. Compared with BOS patients not treated with ECP, the ECP responders showed an improved graft survival (p = 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: These results confirm and suggest that early use of ECP could be an effective adjunct treatment for patients who develop BOS after lung transplantation.

Extracorporeal photoimmunotherapy-photopheresis.

Extracorporeal photoimmunotherapy-photopheresis (ECP) is an immunomodulatory therapy, which basically consists of separating the patient's leucocyte rich plasma from the red blood cell fraction, followed by extracorporeal administration of a photosensitizer and UVA light prior to reinfusion of the treated cells. Successful use of ECP has been reported in patients with cutaneous T cell lymphoma, the Sezary syndrome variant, graft-versus-host disease, cardiac transplant rejection and other T cell mediated/autoimmune and autoimmune diseases. Apoptosis of malignant lymphocytes and presentation of their antigens to anti-tumor CD8+ T cells with induction of an anticlonotypic response by CD8+ effector cells against the CD4+ neoplastic T cells was one of the intial mechanisms of action proposed. The exact mechanism by which ECP exerts its therapeutic effect remains to be further explored and is still uncertain. The better understanding of its mode of action and the clinical benefits of ECP are important findings that provide additional tools to increase the therapeutic armamentarium in a number of acute and chronic T cell mediated diseases.