Disparate lympho-erythroid donor to recipient chimaerism in a beta(0)-thalassaemia bone marrow transplant recipient with red cell indices indicative of apparent full engraftment.
A 4-year-old girl with transfusion-dependent beta(0)-thalassaemia received an HLA-identical bone marrow transplant (BMT) from her beta(0)-thalassaemia trait sister. Prior to BMT, chromosomal analysis revealed the recipient to have 46,XX,9qh+, a polymorphic variant of the heterochromatin region of chromosome 9, which her donor did not have. Within 1 month post-BMT, 89% of nucleated bone marrow cells were of donor origin. One year later, donor engraftment had decreased to 44% and 34% in nucleated bone marrow cells and blood lymphocytes, respectively. By 2 years, donor lymphocyte engraftment fell to 5%, raising concern of possible graft rejection. To examine erythroid chimaerism, globin synthesis by individual erythroid progenitor cell derived colonies (BFU-E) was analysed. On days 1000 and 1130 post-BMT, 79% and 77% of colonies, respectively, synthesized beta-globin and therefore were of donor origin.
Weinberg
R S
RS
Department of Medicine, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, N.Y. 10029, U.S.A.
Vlachos
A
A
Najfeld
V
V
Galperin
Y
Y
Scalise
A
A
Fruchtman
S
S
Lipton
J M
JM
D016026:Bone Marrow Transplantation / Q000379:methods* / Q000473:pathology; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004906:Erythrocyte Count; D015672:Erythroid Precursor Cells / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007621:Karyotyping; D008214:Lymphocytes / Q000473:pathology; D018183:Transplantation Chimera; D017086:beta-Thalassemia / Q000235:genetics / Q000628:therapy*