Brief report: donor-derived long-term multilineage hematopoiesis in a liver-transplant recipient
Article Abstract:
A woman whose immune system had been damaged by graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) following a liver transplant experienced recovery of immune function from stem cells that migrated from the donor's liver to her bone marrow. She had received the liver of a 17-year-old boy after she developed liver cirrhosis. Twelve days after transplantation, her white cell count began to drop and she was diagnosed with GVHD. She responded to corticosteroids, but ultimately died of recurrent GVHD. At autopsy, DNA analysis revealed that many of her blood cells were male (had an X and Y chromosome) and contained antigens similar to those of the donor. These included mature blood cells as well as immature stem cells in her bone marrow. Many of the stem cells in her bone marrow were male. In addition, male cells were found in her spleen, lungs and lymph nodes. Many mature blood cells may have come from blood in the donor's liver, but the presence of male stem cells indicates that the donated liver contained cells capable of restoring the woman's immune system.
Publication Name: The New England Journal of Medicine
Subject: Health
ISSN: 0028-4793
Year: 1993
User Contributions:
Comment about this article or add new information about this topic:
Mixed chimerism and immunologic tolerance
Article Abstract:
Mixed chimerism following organ transplantation may be responsible for the eventual development of tolerance to the foreign organ. In a 1993 study, abnormal deposits of amylopectin almost completely disappeared in patients with type IV glycogen storage disease after they received a liver transplant. Analysis of tissue samples showed that the patients' tissues contained cells from the donated liver and the liver contained cells from the patient. This exchange of cells between the donated organ and recipient is called mixed chimerism, and it could explain immunologic tolerance. The donated cells could also correct metabolic diseases in the recipient. Mixed chimerism often involves dendritic cells, which is the group of blood cells that eliminates self-reacting T cells in the thymus during development. If surgeons could induce mixed chimerism quickly following a transplant, they could eliminate the need for immunosuppressive drugs.
Publication Name: The New England Journal of Medicine
Subject: Health
ISSN: 0028-4793
Year: 1993
User Contributions:
Comment about this article or add new information about this topic:
Circulating tumor cells, disease progression, and survival in metastatic breast cancer
Article Abstract:
The results of the trial indicate that in metastatic breast cancer the level of circulating tumor cells before a new therapy is initiated and, even more important, the level measured at the first follow-up visit are useful predictors of progression-free survival and overall survival. Measurable metastatic breast cancers for levels of circulating tumor cell in 177 patients were tested.
Publication Name: The New England Journal of Medicine
Subject: Health
ISSN: 0028-4793
Year: 2004
User Contributions:
Comment about this article or add new information about this topic:
- Abstracts: Brief report: recognition of acute myocarditis masquerading as acute myocardial infarction. Wide-complex tachycardia in a 65-year-old woman without previous evidence of cardiac disease
- Abstracts: Use of lavender oil for perineal discomfort. Extending the midwives' role in perineal management. Perineal trauma
- Abstracts: Membranoproliferative glomerulonephritis associated with hepatitis C virus infection. The danger within
- Abstracts: Accuracy of fecal occult blood screening for colorectal neoplasia: a prospective study using Hemoccult and HemoQuant tests
- Abstracts: Autonomic modulation of the cardiovascular system during sleep. Sympathetic-nerve activity during sleep in normal subjects