Barry D. Kahan
Transplant surgeon-scientist who was the named author of the large US trial that made sirolimus (rapamycin) an approved immunosuppressant for kidney transplant patients
Emeritus Professor and Director Emeritus, Division of Immunology and Organ Transplantation, University of Texas Medical School at Houston · Chief of Organ Transplant Services, Hermann Hospital (30+ years) · Past President, American Society of Transplant Surgeons (1989–1990) · MD, PhD
Barry Kahan spent most of his career at the University of Texas Medical School in Houston, where he ran the organ transplant service at Hermann Hospital for more than thirty years. He took part in the early clinical work on cyclosporine, basiliximab and sirolimus, and later became editor-in-chief of the journal Transplantation Proceedings. He served as president of the American Society of Transplant Surgeons in 1989 and 1990.
Sirolimus is the drug name for rapamycin, the molecule that led scientists to discover mTOR. The 2000 Lancet trial in the Atlas, run by the Rapamune US Study Group with Kahan as author, randomised 719 kidney transplant recipients to sirolimus 2 mg, 5 mg or azathioprine on top of cyclosporin and prednisone. At six months, biopsy-confirmed acute rejection was 16.9% and 12.0% on sirolimus compared with 29.8% on azathioprine, and graft and patient survival at one year were similar.
This trial was one of the studies behind the approval of sirolimus (Rapamune) for preventing kidney transplant rejection, the first clinical use of an mTOR inhibitor.
Milestones in the Atlas
A selection, not a full bibliography: only papers that meet the Atlas inclusion criteria.
| Year | Evidence | Study |
|---|---|---|
| 2000 | H | Efficacy of sirolimus compared with azathioprine for reduction of acute renal allograft rejection: a randomised multicentre study KAH2000 Author for the Rapamune US Study Group of the randomised Lancet trial showing sirolimus reduced acute kidney transplant rejection compared with azathioprine. |
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