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Apoptosis is the mode of keratinocyte death in cutaneous graft-versus-host disease
R G Langley1, N Walsh, T Nevill
1Pathology Department, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Canada.
Background:
Satellite cell necrosis is a histopathologic hallmark of cutaneous graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) after allogeneic bone marrow transplantation. Although this interaction of lymphocytes with keratinocytes has features of immune cytolytic destruction, the details of the process are not known.
Objective:
Our purpose was to investigate whether apoptosis is involved in the process of GVHD.
Methods:
We used TdT-mediated dUTP-biotin nick end labeling (TUNEL) technique with biotinylated nucleotides. Formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded sections from skin biopsy specimens of patients with GVHD and normal skin were studied.
Results:
Labeling of scattered individual keratinocytes in the epidermis and adnexal epithelium undergoing cytolytic degeneration and a proportion of the adjacent lymphocytes was noted in all specimens of GVHD.
Conclusion:
The positive staining of keratinocytes by the TUNEL method indicates that cell destruction in cutaneous GVHD involves apoptosis.
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