Bone marrow transplantation between mixed lymphocyte culture-reactive individuals

A 13-year-old boy with acute myelogenous leukemia resistant to conventional chemotherapy received a bone marrow transplant from his HL-A-identical, mixed lymphocyte culture-reactive sister. The recipient was prepared for transplantation with cyclophosphamide and total body irradiation. Despite cytogenetic evidence of engraftment, graft-versus-host disease was not observed. The patient died 38 days post-transplantation of Gram-negative bacteremia sepsis and recurrent leukemia of recipient origin.