Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: UMLS:C0018133 (graft-versus-host disease)
 18,032 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Of the 393 children who underwent BM autotransplantation in the pediatric oncology unit of the Institut Gustave Roussy between February 1979 and September 1991, 14 (3.56%) developed disseminated Candida infection within 3 months. This incidence was far lower than in other published series. Eleven of the 14 patients recovered from the infection, giving a far higher survival rate (78%) than among adult BM transplant recipients (usually < 30%). All 14 patients had four or more risk factors and persistent BM aplasia (median, 25 days); six had Candida tropicalis infection. Four cases of deep visceral involvement were documented, two of which were lethal. Clinical signs were relatively uniform and included secondary high-grade fever (> 40 degrees C) for 8 days; half the patients developed cardiovascular impairment, respiratory distress, neurological disturbances (altered consciousness or delirium) and severe diarrhoea, within as little as 10 days after transplantation. Blood cultures rapidly became positive after the onset of clinical signs and this permitted prompt treatment with a combination of amphotericin B and 5-fluorocytosine; in addition, central catheters were removed. Blood cultures became sterile within 4 days of treatment in 10 of the 14 cases. The generally favourable outcome in this series could be related to the young age of the patients, the absence of GVHD, the absence of total body irradiation in the conditioning regimen, and early antifungal treatment.
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PMID:Systemic Candida infection in pediatric BM autotransplantation: clinical signs, outcome and prognosis. 833 27

Delirium, depression and other psychiatric difficulties are commonly encountered by posttransplantation patients, and antipsychotic medicines are frequently used to treat these difficulties. This article reviews previous research data concerning the immunological effects of these medicines, with particular focus on the consequences of prolactin elevation. Unproven but of concern is that these effects may influence graft fate. Older antipsychotic medicines such as haloperidol and chlorpromazine have a high likelihood of elevating prolactin. Prolactin is an immunologically active molecule generally promoting bone marrow function. This may be of benefit post-stem-cell transplant, helping engraftment, but could further rejection of solid-organ transplants. Elevated prolactin is implicated in the facilitation of graft-versus-host disease. Aripiprazole is the antipsychotic medicine least likely to increase prolactin (and may actually decrease prolactin); risperidone, the most likely to increase prolactin. Olanzapine, quetiapine and ziprazadone are antipsychotic medicines with a lower likelihood of elevating prolactin. Older ("neuroleptic") antipsychotics, such as chlorpromazine, droperidol and haloperidol, perphenazine and many others, are likely to elevate serum prolactin. Among antidepressants, most serotonin reuptake inhibitors, with the exception of sertraline, can slightly elevate prolactin. The atypical (i.e., alone in their class) antidepressants bupropion and mirtazapine are prolactin neutral. The immunological consequences of psychiatric medicines should be considered when treating transplant patients for delirium, depression and thought disorders; in addition, if elevation of prolactin is thought to be of immunological importance during psychiatric treatment, then it should be monitored and treated. The dopamine agonists used to treat Parkinson's disease--bromocriptine, pergolide, pramipexole, ropinerole--usually reverse antipsychotic-induced prolactin increases without compromising psychiatric effectiveness.
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PMID:Review of evidence that posttransplantation psychiatric treatment commonly affects prolactin levels and thereby influences graft fate. 1667 66

Human herpesvirus (HHV)-6 belongs to the Betaherpesvirinae subfamily of human herpesviruses. Primary HHV-6 infection commonly causes exanthem subitum. Like other herpesviruses, HHV-6 is capable of persisting in the host after the primary infection. Under conditions of immunosuppression, latent HHV-6 can be reactivated. Between 30% and 70% of patients who undergo allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (allo-HCT) experience HHV-6 reactivation at 2-4 weeks after transplantation. Accumulating evidence indicates that HHV-6 is an actual cause of encephalitis after allo-HCT. Risk factors for HHV-6 encephalitis include cord blood transplantation and an inflammatory milieu, which occurs in the early period after allo-HCT. Although HHV-6 encephalitis is associated with a poor prognosis, no validated treatments or preventative measures have as yet been established. HHV-6 reactivation may also cause myelitis, bone marrow suppression, lung disease, hepatitis, delirium, and graft-versus-host disease. However, such associations have not been consistently demonstrated and causality remains uncertain. This review updates the latest information regarding the clinical syndrome accompanying HHV-6 reactivation, with a particular focus on HHV-6 encephalitis, in the form of a series of questions and answers.
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PMID:[Human herpesvirus-6-associated diseases in hematopoietic stem cell transplantation: an update]. 2707 41