Interferon Gamma use in fungal infections in transplant patients

A recent article in AJT reports the use of Interferon Gamma as a salvage and additional therapy for disseminated fungal infections in kidney transplant recipients.
We always get concerned with giving interferons to transplant recipients as it will increase and promote an immune response and pose a risk of rejection.

In the above cases, not only did the patients survived but the graft was not effect in 4/7 cases as well with no consequences of rejection. Why interferon gamma? It is the most important cytokine in communication of T cells to fight fungal and mycobacterial infections.

The idea is novel yet scary. More data and more cases are needed till we think of possibly using this in large clinical settings. Clearly, the concern of activating more crosstalk among T helper cells by using Interferon Gamma is helpful in fighting infection but might have to be the right balance to prevent rejection.

Reference:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20353472
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20636453