Detecting chimerism contributes to diagnosis of graft versus host disease after orthotopic liver transplantation

摘要

To the Editor:Graft versus host disease(GVHD)occurs when the immunocompetent cells from the donor mount an immune response against the tissues of the host[1].It is commonly seen in the patients who received hematopoietic stem cell transplantation(HSCT).GVHD is a rare but lethal complication in orthotopic liver transplantation(OLT).The incidence varies from 0.1%to 2.0%,while the mortality rate is up to 75.0%[2–4].Herein,we reported a successfully treated case of GVHD after OLT,who was diagnosed timely with the help of a novel chimerism test technique,and was treated with drug withdraw and basiliximab.The patient,male,65-year-old,was in poor nutrition with the body mass index(BMI)of 20.7 kg/m^2.He had a long history of hepatitis B virus(HBV)infection,and was diagnosed with hepatocellular carcinoma(single focus with the diameter of 4.3 cm,no distant metastasis,within the Milan Criteria)for three months.