Targeting Antigen Reduces Graft-Versus-Host Disease Response To Bone Marrow Transplants.

2001 AUG 9 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) --

Bone marrow transplants have brought new hope to leukemia patients in recent years. Sometimes, though, the graft fails after a battle between the patient's body and the new tissue.

A team of scientists in Canada has found a way to reduce graft-versus-host disease by targeting a specific antigen, a protein that causes an immune response. While their work so far has been limited to mice, experts say they are pointing the direction for research on human leukemia.

The findings of the team, led by Dr. Claude Perreault of Guy-Bernier Research Center at Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital in Montreal, are reported in the …