Chronic kidney disease is a major public health problem that is associated with increased risks of kidney disease progression, cardiovascular disease and death. Kidney transplantation remains the renal replacement therapy of choice for patients with end-stage kidney disease. Despite impressive strides in short-term allograft survival, there has been little improvement in long-term kidney graft survival, and rates of death with a functioning allograft remain high. Long-term safety profiles of existing immunosuppressive regimens point to a need for continued search for alternative agents. This overview discusses emerging evidence on a few promising therapeutic approaches, juxtaposes conflicting findings and highlights remaining knowledge gaps.
Keywords: belatacept; corticosteroids; mammalian target of rapamycin inhibitors.