New Insights into Graft-Versus-Host Disease and Graft Rejection

Graft-versus-host disease or graft-versus-host-like syndrome.

Graft Versus Host Disease

Commonly referred to as GVHD, graft-versus-host disease is a man-made condition that arises when patients are transplanted with donor tissue that is not identical to their own. Transplants from other individuals are called allogeneic (‘allo’ meaning ‘other’ and ‘geneic’ referring to ‘genes’). GVHD occurs after hematopoietic stem cell or bone marrow transplantation but is most commonly experienc...

Graft versus Host Disease

Definition Graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) is the most common complication of allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). In HSCT, the patient’s bone marrow is destroyed with chemotherapy and/or radiation and replaced by donor hematopoietic stem cells. In allogeneic HSCT the donor is usually a close family member or occasionally someone outside the family who has been found to b...

Graft versus host disease: New insights into A2A receptor agonist therapy

Allogeneic transplantation can cure many disorders, including sickle cell disease, chronic granulomatous disease (CGD), severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID) and many types of cancers. However, there are several associated risks that can result in severe immunological reactions and, in some cases, death. Much of this morbidity is related to graft versus host disease (GVHD) [1]. GVHD is an imm...

Graft-versus-host disease and graft-versus-leukemia.

Allogeneic bone marrow transplantation (BMT) remains the treatment of choice for a number of malignant conditions. Much of the therapeutic potential of this procedure for these diseases relates to the graft-versusleukemia (GVL) effect, which eradicates host malignancy after BMT and is mediated by donor T and natural killer (NK) cells (1). GVL effects are closely associated, however, with graft-...