The effect of nutritional immunomodulation on cardiac allograft survival in rats receiving mycophenolate mofetil, cyclosporine A, and donor-specific transfusion

Background: Immunosuppressive drugs continue to pose significant risks such as infection, toxicity, or neoplasia when used in long-term therapy. The i nvestigation of newer and safer combined treatment strategies that decrease the need for these drugs is becoming increasingly important. Immunonutrien ts are known to have significant modulating effects on the immune system. F eeding with Impact, a commercially available diet enriched with arginine, o mega-3 fatty acids, and RNA, recently has been shown to extend rat cardiac allograft survival when combined with a donor-specific transfusion (DST) an d cyclosporine A (CsA). Because mycophenolate mofetil (MMF) is now commonly used in the clinical setting, the current study was designed to examine th e effect on rat cardiac allograft survival when MMF was added to this immun osuppressive regimen. Methods: Intra-abdominal ACI to Lewis heterotopic cardiac allografts were p erformed. Study groups included untreated controls and recipients receiving varying combinations of a DST (1 mL) on the day prior to engraftment, MMF 45 mg/kg/day from the day of transplant through postoperative day six, and CsA 10 mg/kg on the day prior to operation and 2.5 mg/kg from the day of tr ansplant through postoperative day 6. Animals were fed ad libitum with Impa ct diet or standard lab chow. Graft survival was determined by cessation of a palpable heartbeat. Results: Treatment with MMF led to a prolonged allograft survival over hist orical untreated controls. The combination of MMF with a donor-specific tra nsfusion, Impact, or CsA was associated with an increase in graft survival over MMF alone. The addition of Impact to the combination of MMF and CsA re sulted in further improvement. The most pronounced graft survival advantage was seen when Impact was combined with a DST and both of the immunosuppres sive agents. One quarter of the animals in this group had a palpable donor heart beat at greater than 150 days, indicating functional tolerance in tho se animals. Conclusions: The administration of Impact diet to treatment groups in this study was associated with graft survival advantages when compared to most o f the other study groups receiving a similar drug regimen and standard chow . These findings support the importance of nutritional influences on allogr aft survival, and highlight the potential of diet therapy when used with sh ort courses of clinically relevant immunosuppressive drugs.