AUTOANTIBODY FORMATION AFTER BONE-MARROW TRANSPLANTATION - A COMPARISON BETWEEN AUTOLOGOUS AND ALLOGENEIC GRAFTS

Various autoantibodies were screened in 11 allogeneic, 14 autologous bone marrow transplanted patients and 11 healthy controls. Except anti-mitochondria antibodies, autoantibodies were found with similar frequencies after allogeneic and autologous transplantation. Moreover, 50% of autoantibodies were already present before transplantation. These results suggest that factors other than allogeneic reaction could be responsible for autoantibody formation after bone marrow transplantation, in particular, pre-graft conditioning treatment and/or viral and bacterial infection. Nevertheless, the number of patients with 2 or more autoantibodies was significantly higher after allogeneic than after autologous grafting (respectively, 82% and 36.7%; P<0.05). Forty percent of allografted but none of autografted patients were still positive at 12 months post graft. So, allogeneic reaction could play a role in intensity of humoral response and its maintenance for a long period. © 1991 Informa UK Ltd All rights reserved: reproduction in whole or part not permitted.