Background: Heart transplantation is a well-established therapeutic option for many patients with end-stage heart disease. A major challenge in heart transplantation today is providing effective immunosuppression to prevent graft rejection while minimizing the many adverse effects of currently available therapies.
Objective: To systematically review current immunosuppressive treatment strategies after heart transplantation and to review emerging drugs in various stages of development.
Methods: A comprehensive literature review was performed using the online PubMed and Pharmaprojects databases.
Results/conclusions: This article gives an overview of the immunosuppressive agents in current use, with a detailed review of emerging drugs with novel therapeutic targets.