Autoimmune thrombocytopenia acquired from an allogeneic bone-marrow graft

Severe thrombocytopenia developed after an allogeneic bone-marrow graft in a 40-year-old woman in first remission from acute myeloblastic leukaemia. The thrombocytopenia had an autoimmune basis and was acquired from the bone-marrow donor who had an identical platelet autoantibody. The patient responded to high-dose intravenous IgG, and she has a normal platelet count 10 months after the graft. This study suggests that the immune defect in autoimmune thrombocytopenia can be transferred in cells capable of proliferating in a bone-marrow graft.