Treatment of severe acute graft-versus-host disease with third party haploidentical mesenchymal stem cells

Katarina Le Blanc1, Ida Rasmusson, Berit Sundberg

  • 1Division of Clinical Immunology and Centre for Allogeneic Stem Cell Transplantation, Karolinska Institutet, Huddinge University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden. Katarina.Leblanc@medhs.ki.se

PubMed

Adult bone-marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells are immunosuppressive and prolong the rejection of mismatched skin grafts in animals. We transplanted haploidentical mesenchymal stem cells in a patient with severe treatment-resistant grade IV acute graft-versus-host disease of the gut and liver. Clinical response was striking. The patient is now well after 1 year. We postulate that mesenchymal stem cells have a potent immunosuppressive effect in vivo.