Immunosuppressant drugs such as cyclosporin have allowed widespread organ
transplantation, but their utility remains limited by toxicities, and they are ineffective in
chronic management of autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis. In contrast, the
immune modulating drug FTY720 is efficacious in a variety of transplant and autoimmune
models without inducing a generalized immunosuppressed state and is effective in human
kidney transplantation. FTY720 elicits a lymphopenia resulting from a reversible …