Graft-versus-host reaction affecting lesional skin but not normal skin in a patient with piebaldism.

Abstract

A case of graft-vs.-host disease (GVHD) arising solely within an area affected by piebaldism is described. The patient, a 35-year-old woman with a single hypopigmented patch on the right leg present since birth, had received an allogeneic bone marrow transplant (BMT) from an HLA-identical sibling donor, for treatment of a myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS). Beginning on day +38 post-BMT, the patch developed changes which were histologically consistent with GVHD. Syngeneic mixed epidermal cell-lymphocyte reaction (MECLR) testing of tissue from the patch, and from adjacent normal skin, showed differences which suggest that piebaldism-affected skin is immunologically different from normal skin. These findings may offer new insight into the pathophysiology of this disorder.

• Authors: R K Chow, W D Stewart, V C Ho
• Journal: The British journal of dermatology (Br J Dermatol) Vol. 134 Issue 1 Pg. 134-7 (Jan 1996) ISSN: 0007-0963 [Print] England
• PMID: 8745900 (Publication Type: Case Reports, Journal Article)

Topics

• Adult
• Anemia, Refractory, with Excess of Blasts (therapy)
• Bone Marrow Transplantation (adverse effects)
• Epidermis (immunology)
• Female
• Graft vs Host Disease (etiology, pathology)
• Humans
• Lymphocytes (immunology)
• Piebaldism (complications, immunology, pathology)