Immunologic reconstitution in severe combined immunodeficiency following transplantation with parental bone marrow

A 9-month-old girl with severe combined immunodeficiency was transplanted with BM cells from her father. The child had complete restoration of cell-mediated immune functions. Humoral immune functions remain absent nine months after transplant. Child and father were HL-A identical and their lymphocytes were nonreactive in mixed lymphocyte culture. The parents of the child were first cousins and shared an HL-A haplotype. In countries like Lebanon, where there is a high incidence of first-cousin marriages (15%) and where villages are relatively isolated, the search for histocompatible graft donors should extend beyond the siblings to other members of the family.