Abstract
THE transplantation of immunocompetent cells into an immunologically suppressed individual frequently results in a syndrome believed to be due to an immune reaction of the grafted cells against the host. In man this graft versus host (GVH) reaction prominently involves the skin, gastro-intestinal tract and liver, and is characterized pathologically by lymphoid cell infiltrates, basal cell layer destruction and dyskeratosis1. The mechanism by which the GVH reaction damages epithelial structures has not been studied in man. Streilein and Billingham have studied a GVH-like reaction prominently involving the skin in hamsters and have made a number of observations pertinent to the mechanism of the GVH pathology2,3. One of their observations, the finding of a cytotoxic factor against hamster and rat epidermal cells in the serum of hamsters with GVH-like skin lesions stimulated us to investigate this in man. We have found in human patients with GVH an IgM antibody which is cytotoxic for epithelial but not lymphoid cells.
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MERRITT, C., MANN, D. & ROGENTINE, G. Cytotoxic Antibody for Epithelial Cells in Human Graft versus Host Disease. Nature 232, 638–639 (1971). https://doi.org/10.1038/232638a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/232638a0
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