Acute graft-versus-host disease in recipients of bone-marrow transplants from identical twin donors

Lancet. 1979 Oct 6;2(8145):717-20. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(79)90644-5.

Abstract

Three patients with acute leukaemia received bone-marrow from identical twin donors after pre-transplant preparation with cyclophosphamide, cytosine arabinoside, and total body irradiation. Later clinical and microscopic changes in all three patients suggested cutaneous acute graft-versus host disease. In two of the recipients thrombolytic thrombocytopenia developed during the seventh week after transplantation, and platelet half-life was reduced to 9 h in one recipient (normal 3--4 days). It is suggested that acute graft-versus-host disease in bone-marrow recipients sometimes may result from an imbalance between autoreactive lymphocytes and lymphocytes which suppress their effect and not always from genetically determined histocompatibility differences between donor and recipient.

Publication types

  • Case Reports
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Acute Disease
  • Adult
  • Bone Marrow Transplantation*
  • Child
  • Female
  • Graft vs Host Reaction*
  • Humans
  • Immunosuppression Therapy* / adverse effects
  • Leukemia / therapy
  • Male
  • Pregnancy
  • Skin / immunology
  • Thrombocytopenia / etiology
  • Tissue Donors
  • Transplantation, Homologous
  • Twins, Monozygotic