title: Transfusion-associated graft-versus-host disease: do transfusions from second-degree relatives pose a greater risk than those from first-degree relatives?
abstract: When a patient receives blood from a closely related donor, there is the potential for transfusion-associated graft-versus-host disease (TA-GVHD). With a mathematical model, the potential risk of TA-GVHD was derived for six classes of related donors. This risk was considered to be present when an HLA-heterozygous patient received blood from a donor who was homozygous for one of the patient's haplotypes. Calculations showed that second-degree related donors present a greater risk of TA-GVHD than some (siblings) but not all (parents, children) first-degree related donors. Moreover, there is, in general, no sharp cutoff of risk among the various classes of donors. These results should be considered in the determination of a policy for the irradiation of directed-donor units.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Kaiser Foundation Hospital, Los Angeles, California.
authors.forename: M H
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Kanter
mesh_terms: D001769:Blood / Q000528:radiation effects; D001782:Blood Donors; D001789:Blood Group Antigens / Q000276:immunology; D005260:Female; D006086:Graft vs Host Disease / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*; D006680:HLA Antigens / Q000235:genetics; D006239:Haplotypes; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011336:Probability; D012307:Risk Factors; D065227:Transfusion Reaction
chemical_list: D001789:Blood Group Antigens; D006680:HLA Antigens