Analysis of the relative response index and marrow graft rejection in thalassemia patients
Nesci, S.; Donati, M.; Delfini, C.; Paradisi, O.; Marchionni, D.; Valentini, M.; Nicolini, G.; Lucarelli, G.
Haematologica 72(4): 301-303
1987
ISSN/ISBN: 0390-6078 PMID: 2959597 Document Number: 290995
Thirty-seven thalassemia patients were treated with an infusion of marrow from HLA-identical donors. Engraftment occurred in all patients, but 8 of them later rejected the graft. To determine whether a mixed lymphocyte culture (MLC) assay might predict subsequent marrow rejection, MLC tests involving the 37 thalassemic patients and their HLA-identical sibling donors were analyzed using a relative response index (RRI). Of the 9 patients who showed a positive RRI to donor lymphocytes in pre-graft MLCs, 2 rejected their grafts, whereas of the 28 patients with negative RRI, 6 suffered rejection. The results suggest that there is no association between MLC tests analyzed by RRI criteria and the outcome of marrow grafting.