Risk of donor lymphocyte infusions following allogeneic bone marrow transplantation.

Clinical data so far suggest that the resistance to induction of graft-vs.-host disease (GVHD) by donor lymphocyte infusions is less prominent in allogeneic bone marrow transplant patients than indicated by the limited results of experimental studies in animals published many years ago. To confirm this apparent discrepancy, graded numbers of donor type splenocytes were given at various intervals after bone marrow transplantation to mouse radiation chimeras.

Both bone marrow- and non-bone marrow-associated factors determine susceptibility to experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis of BUF and WAG rats.

To determine the feasibility of treatment with allogeneic bone marrow for experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis, we investigated the susceptibility to experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis of bone marrow chimeras using BUF, (WAG X BUF)F1 (high responder), and WAG (low responder) rats. In contrast to previous studies in which other rat strains were used, the response was largely determined by the genotype of the grafted bone marrow, but the influence of a non-bone marrow-associated factor was evident. The latter factor was identified as a low corticosterone response in BUF rats and a high corticosterone response in WAG rats.

Treatment of experimental allergic encephalomyelitis in rats with total body irradiation and syngeneic BMT.

Experimental allergic encephalomyelitis (EAE) was induced in Buffalo rats by immunization with syngeneic spinal cord homogenate in complete adjuvant. EAE, an autoimmune disease of the central nervous system (CNS), is regarded as a model for multiple sclerosis. When severe paresis had developed, rats were treated with high-dose total body irradiation (TBI) and transplanted with syngeneic BM from healthy donors.

Remission induction of adjuvant arthritis in rats by total body irradiation and autologous bone marrow transplantation.

Following the demonstration that adjuvant arthritis in rats can be cured with total body irradiation (TBI) and allogeneic or syngeneic bone marrow, the efficacy of autologous bone marrow was investigated in the experiments reported here. Bone marrow from arthritic rats, harvested at the same time that the recipients were irradiated, and real autologous bone marrow were found to be similarly effective as bone marrow grafts from naive syngeneic donors. Sublethal TBI with lower doses was less effective, but the highest tolerated doses of 8 Gy approached the effect of 9 Gy and bone marrow rescue.