Extracorporeal photochemotherapy in human and murine graft-versus-host disease.
Extracorporeal photochemotherapy (ECP) is an immunotherapy that has found a role in the therapy of cutaneous T cell lymphoma, a disease of mature activated T cells. Graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) is also mediated by activated T cells, and thus often responds to therapies that target T cells. Murine models for both GVHD and ECP can be combined to study the impact of this immunotherapy on GVHD. In this paper we present a patient with GVHD who demonstrated a beneficial therapeutic response to treatment with ECP. The findings of this case are compared with the observations from a murine model for GVHD-ECP. The potential mechanisms of ECP in the treatment of GVHD are discussed. along with the similarities observed with ECP in the treatment of other conditions.
Girardi
M
M
Department of Dermatology, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06520-8059, USA.
McNiff
J M
JM
Heald
P W
PW
D000208:Acute Disease; D000328:Adult; D000818:Animals; D005112:Extracorporeal Circulation; D006086:Graft vs Host Disease / Q000188:drug therapy*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D010778:Photochemotherapy