Low-dose allopurinol plus azathioprine/cyclosporin/prednisolone, a novel immunosuppressive regimen.

Early rejection can still complicate renal transplantation even with cyclosporin. We added low-dose allopurinol (25 mg on alternative days) to "triple" immunosuppression with cyclosporin, prednisolone, and azathioprine for twelve recipients of cadaver renal grafts. The controls were fifteen patients on triple therapy alone. Only one rejection episode occurred among the allopurinol-treated patients, whereas eleven controls had rejections (seven with more than one episode). Allopurinol may be toxic when combined with azathioprine, yet the bone marrow tolerated the new regimen well. As expected, reduction of the azathioprine dose was necessary in the treated group.