Cytokine Adsorption in Lung Transplantation

Early intolerance to the newly transplanted lung starts at the time of transplantation and results in PGD driven by an intense inflammatory response. Cytokines play a critical role as signaling molecules that initiate, amplify, and maintain inflammatory responses both locally and systemically. The use of cytokine filtration devices to target middle- and low-molecular weight molecules has been shown to reduce levels of a diverse number of cytokines. These results have been demonstrated in the in vitro reduction of pathogen-associated molecular pattern molecules (PAMPS) and damage associated molecular patterns (DAMPS) as well as in in vivo studies involving orthotopic heart transplantation and kidney transplantation. Cytokine adsorption has been used successfully in clinical applications to both heart and kidney transplantation. The present study is a randomized controlled pilot study which aims to collect preliminary data on the efficacy of a medical device through the comparison of patients undergoing LTx with and without cytokine adsorption.