sirolimus
Meaning of sirolimus: Sirolimus is an immunosuppressant medication used to prevent organ transplant rejection by blocking a key pathway that drives immune cell growth.
Definition of sirolimus
Sirolimus is a medication used to prevent the immune system from rejecting a transplanted organ. It is generally used together with other immunosuppressant medications rather than alone.
Sirolimus works by blocking a protein called mTOR, which normally helps regulate cell growth and division, including the proliferation of immune cells that would otherwise attack transplanted tissue. By inhibiting this pathway, sirolimus dampens the immune response responsible for organ rejection.
Sirolimus was originally identified from a soil bacterium and was previously known as rapamycin before its current name became standard. Beyond transplant medicine, drugs that work through the same mTOR pathway are also used in certain other conditions, including specific types of cancer and a rare lung disease.
Also known as
Used in a sentence
Sirolimus was included in the patient's immunosuppressant regimen following kidney transplantation.
Good to know
Sirolimus and rapamycin refer to the same medication, and the older name rapamycin may still appear in some older records and research literature.