Depletion of T cells from bone marrow grafts with soybean agglutinin and sheep red blood cells for prevention of graft-versus-host disease.

Acute (and chronic) graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) is a principal cause of morbidity and mortality in allogeneic bone marrow transplantation (BMT) despite HLA matching of donor and recipient and post-transplant immunosuppressive regimens. Previous studies in animals have demonstrated that mature T cells in the marrow graft are primary mediators of GVHD [1, 2]. Recently, various methods have been developed in man to deplete the marrow graft from mature T cells as attempts to prevent GVHD [3–6].