Lack of B cell precursors in marrow transplant recipients with chronic graft-versus-host disease

✍ Scribed by Storek, Jan; Witherspoon, Robert P.; Webb, Dale; Storb, Rainer

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1996
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 906 KB
• Volume: 52
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0361-8609
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1096-8652(199606)52:2<82::aid-ajh3>3.0.co;2-1

✦ Synopsis

B cell reconstitution after bone marrow transplantation is slow in patients with chronic graft-vs.-host disease (cGVHD). Could this be secondary to decreased production of B cells in the bone marrow? We determined the relative amount of B cell precursors in the marrow of 26 patients at approximately 1 year after marrow transplant (10 patients with and 16 patients without clinical cGVHD) and 8 normal adult controls. In the controls (median), 3.1% of all marrow mononuclear cells were B cell precursors. The patients without cGVHD tended to have higher than normal percents of B cell precursors (median 6.5%; the difference from normal adults was not significant). In contrast, the patients with cGVHD had barely detectable B cell precursors (median 0.2%; the difference from normal adults was significant, P = 0.004). Therefore, delayed reconstitution of B cells in patients with cGVHD appears to be due at least in part to decreased B cell production by the marrow.