Graft Versus Host Disease

Question: Has graft-versus-host disease been able to be reversed? I did a paper in high school about how embryonic stem cell research is pointless because they have no way to administer the treatment to a human without graft versus host setting in WITHOUT immunosupressants. Have there been any recent studies to prove otherwise? Even if it was possible without graft-versus-host disease, what other obstacles would prevent embryonic stem cell research from leading to medical treatments? (apart from the obvious reasons like the catholic church getting their knickers in a twist, and government funding)

Answer: I am on the margins of this stuff and see claims of treatments for gvh disease. I have not heard that it can be reversed or stopped, only treated.

Question: what are the effects of graft versus host disease? family member had stem cell transplant now has host disease

Answer: There are basically two types of Stem Cell transplants. One is Autologous...which means the cells are your own that were harvested at an earlier time. The other is an Allogenic.....which means you received your cells from another person (preferrable a sibling) or a stranger based on HLA matching. Graft vs Host is fairly common in the second type of transplant (which I'd bet your family member had). Think of it this way... "graft" refers to the cells from transplant, and "host" refers to you family member's body. The graft cells are foreign to the body, and if the host's immune system recognizes it as foreign if will try to attack and reject it. It can affect any part of the body and the prognosis is often determined by where it attacks, and the severity. The most common areas affected are the skin, and stomach. It can be very uncomfortable and hard to treat/get under control. A mild case of GVH is also conseidered a good thing because it can shows the host's immune system is beginning to work. Bone marrow transplants are usually a very rough road, and they often come with many bumps along the way. I hope your family member feels better and enjoys a long life.

Question: Is so called 'graft-versus-host' disease real!!!!?

Answer: Yes, it is an adverse reaction to a transplany. Your immune system recognizeses the transplanted organ, tissue, etc as "foriegn" and tries to rid itself of the transplanted material.

Question: Host-versus-graft disease refers to:? a. rejection of tissue immediately following transplant b. T-cells in grafted tissue attacking host cells c. infection resulting from immunosuppression threapy d. transplant rejection by the recipient's immune system

Answer: I think it's d, sorry I got confused... I'm not really sure about the answer given that HvG is different to GvH

Question: Why are immune cells extracted from umbilical cord blood better for transplantation ? Why are immune cells extracted from umbilical cord blood better for transplantation than those in child or adult bone marrow? a.They are denser and thus easier to transplant b.They are less likely to cause cancer c.They can develop into more types of cells d.They are less likely to cause graft-versus-host disease

Answer: As much as I oppose doing other people's hw... the answer is d. The biology is a bit over my head (I know because I had the transplant with cord blood), but I where they have to match the antigens, babies have fewer antigens or something like that than adults. Because of that, they can mismatch donor and recipient far more than what they can with an adult donor (they want adult donors to be a near perfect match, but the cord blood used in my transplant was only a 6 out of 10 match), but the chances of rejection and gvhd are less.

Question: Survivor's Guilt? Last December I underwent a full bone marrow transplant for a condition commonly referred to as CML (it is one of the major 4 variations/types of leukemia). I am very fortunate that I have been 100% complication free. At no point did I ever receive a blood tranfusion, I never had an infection of any kind, have no signs of graft versus host disease and literally haven't even spiked a fever. I have been told by my physician that I am something of an anomally. It would appear that I was born to have this type of transplant. While I have done very well many of my friends whom I met on the isolation ward have not faired as well. Many of them have died. I find myself suffering from guiltly feelings for doing so well. I have heard and read about Survivor's Guilt in connection with Holocaust survivors. While I don't mean to compare what I went through to their experiences, I am wondering if anyone else has experienced or read about what I'm feeling. Comments?

Answer: Yes. My son has a disease in which there are very few survivors. Most die within a year or two from diagnosis. However, I will let you know how we feel about this subject. There are survivors of his disease and we celebrate that fact . . it gives those of us in this battle hope that the disease can be cured!!! Please do not feel badly . . you and those like you are our hope. If you can survive the disease than others can too. I would send you a hug if it were possible. Thank you for being a survivor. The best thing that you could do is to tell as many others with your type of cancer just how well you are doing.