New Genetic Clues to Why Most Bone Marrow Transplant Patients Develop Graft-Versus-Host Disease, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center Study

A team of scientists led by a bone marrow transplant researcher at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center has shed new light on why most bone marrow transplant patients who receive tissue-matched cells from unrelated donors still suffer acute graft-versus-host disease (GVHD). The answer appears to lie in the discovery of previously undetected genetic differences in the DNA of patients and unrelated marrow donors. The laboratory-based study findings by Effie Petersdorf, M.D., and colleagues soon will be translated to the clinic when a Hutchinson Center transplant protocol -- the first of its kind -opens at Seattle Cancer Care Alliance later this year to test patients and donors for these genetic differences.