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)

Recent data in mice have shown that early administration of recombinant human interleukin-2 (rIL-2) provides significant protection from lethal graft-versus-host disease. Because of the potential clinical importance of these findings, it will be important to assess the effectiveness of this therapy in a large animal preclinical bone marrow transplantation model. We report here our initial studies of the in vitro and in vivo effects of rIL-2 in miniature swine. In vitro 4-day cultures of pig peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBL) in complete medium containing rIL-2 at 1,000 U/ml resulted in optimal proliferation and generation of lymphokine-activated killer (LAK) cells. A pig-mouse hybridoma cell line was found to be highly sensitive as a LAK cell target. Two naive pigs received 20,000 U/kg and 2 pigs received 100,000 U/kg of rIL-2 intravenously twice a day for 4 days. No clinical symptoms were seen during or after administration at the lower dose while both high dose-treated animals showed generalized erythema from days 2 to 4, and one showed mild diarrhea during this period. The disappearance of IL-2 activity from the serum showed two components: (1) an initial fast component with a half-time of approximately 10 min and (2) a slow component with a half-time of approximately 60 min. LAK cell precursors disappeared from the peripheral circulation by 6 min after rIL-2 administration and began to recover by 6 h in the low dose recipients and only after 12 h in the high dose recipients.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
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PMID:In vitro and in vivo effects of recombinant human interleukin-2 in naive miniature swine. 151 21

We report our findings in two cases of steroid-resistant severe acute GVHD after allogeneic BMT successfully treated with FK506 (tacrolimus). An 18-year-old female (patient 1) who underwent BMT from an HLA-identical sibling for ALL in first CR, developed generalized erythema and profuse watery diarrhea, which progressed to acute GVHD of grade III severity, resistant to steroid control. After continuous 24-h administration of FK506, the diarrhea improved within 10 days. Patient 2, a 9-year-old girl with AML who underwent unrelated BMT, had skin, gut and liver lesions of acute GVHD grade IV, which did not respond to high-dose steroid therapy. They were controlled, however, by continuous intravenous infusion of FK506. Both patients are still surviving after more than 1 year without any acute GVHD sequelae or signs of chronic illness. The adverse effects of FK506 were mild and tolerable in both cases. Comparison of our findings with those in the literature suggests that it is important to give FK506 at plasma concentrations as high as 25-35 ng/ml by continuous intravenous infusion for extended periods to control steroid-resistant severe acute GVHD.
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PMID:Successful treatment of steroid-resistant severe acute GVHD with 24-h continuous infusion of FK506. 908 43

Two female patients developed an acute graft versus host reaction with generalized erythema and subsequent desquamation after allogeneic bone marrow transplantation. Later, over a period of months both developed chronic graft versus host reactions with involvement of liver and lungs. Shortly after the diagnosis of the chronic graft versus host disease both patients developed severe elastosis of the facial skin. The pathogenetic linkage of the clinical picture, which resembles photodamage to graft versus host disease and autoimmunity is discussed.
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PMID:Facial premature ageing as a side-effect following bone marrow transplantation. 1294 Oct 83