Biology of acute and chronic graft-versus-host reactions: predictive value of studies in experimental animals

Experimental research on graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) with laboratory animals has been performed mainly with rodents, rhesus monkeys and dogs. The basic immunological mechanisms operative in GVHD are largely similar in these three species and in human patients, although the patterns of GVHD in the three animal species show differences. The predictive value for clinical GVHD of the results obtained in the different animals species is analysed for the three main variables: namely, histocompatibility, T cell numbers in the graft and the intestinal microflora. Rhesus monkeys score highest as regards clinical relevance for the first two variables. With regards to the unravelling of detailed mechanisms of the influence of the microflora, none of the three animal species is likely to provide the information needed for identification of the bacterial species involved in the induction of GVHD in human patients.