Immunosuppressant drugs autoimmune active chronic

Ciclosporin is an immunosuppressant drug that primarily inhibits T cell activation, therefore down-regulating the T cell responses that mediate graft rejection. Myelotoxic effects are therefore not expected. Ciclosporin has also been used in a wide range of chronic inflammatory or autoimmune diseases. 

Corticosteroids. Corticosteroids are immunosuppressant drugs which have had beneficial effects in autoimmune chronic active hepatitis. They were investigated for the treatment of ehronic aetive hepatitis B (183-185), resulting in increased HBV replication, membrane expression of viral antigen, and delayed HBeAg seroconversion (132, 186). Stopping steroid treatment usually leads to a rebound in hepatic disease activity but may be followed by termination of viral replication within a few months (187). Thus, despite the decrease in transaminase activity, corticosteroids have little role in the treatment of chronic hepatitis B. However, corticosteroids may be useful for pretreatment of certain patients prior to interferon therapy (188) or for enhaneing the efficacy of interferon or adenine arabinoside (ARA-A) treatment by prior steroid withdrawal in patients with mild inflammatory activity (189). 

Immunosuppressive therapy is currently an option in chronic severe asthma, where cyclosporine seems to be an effective drug and rapamycin promises to be another alternative. Tacrolimus is currently under clinical investigation for the management of autoimmune chronic active hepatitis... 

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