DOCTORS may soon be able to prevent bone marrow transplants from rejecting
their hosts.
Graft versus host disease (GVHD) occurs when T cells from the donor’s bone
marrow attack the recipient in response to their antigens—bits of protein
that the donor T cells see as foreign.
GVHD is usually controlled by killing off T cells and suppressing the immune
system of the patient. But by knocking out the antigen-presenting cells that
alert the T cells, Stephen Emerson and his colleagues from the University of
Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, were able to prevent GVHD from developing in mice
(Science, vol 285, p 412). Emerson hopes a similar approach will work
for people without causing prolonged immunosuppression.
