Donor-Derived Long-Term Multilineage Hematopoiesis in a Liver-Transplant Recipient

Abstract

Graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) has been well documented in several recipients of liver transplants1–8. In this syndrome alloreactive cells from the donor attack the recipient's skin, gastrointestinal tissue, and hematopoietic tissue. Severe myelosuppression commonly results, but there has been a degree of recovery of hematopoiesis in some patients after immunosuppressive therapy. The recovery of hematopoiesis resulted from the recovery of the recipient's bone marrow in some cases,1,3 but it also could be due to the proliferation of hematopoietic precursor cells in the donor's liver, since the liver is a site of hematopoiesis in fetuses and, under certain circumstances, . . .