Original Article Association of rapamycin and co-stimulation blockade using anti-B7 antibodies in renal allotransplantation in baboons

Background. Co-stimulation blockade has already been shown to induce transplantation tolerance in rodents, but until now has failed in large animal models. We therefore sought to investigate whether the addition of rapamycin to a co-stimulation blockade regimen could induce tolerance in baboon recipients of a renal allograft and to characterize the immunological characteristics of rejection. Methods. Two baboons were used for a pharmacolog-ical and toxicological analysis and received anti-B7.1 and anti-B7 antibodies every other day for 60 days. Three groups of baboons underwent classical hetero-topic renal allotransplantation; the first group received no treatment (control group; n 2), the secon