A new study claims to have reached a landmark in predicting how a patient will react to allografts as a treatment for liver cancer.
Cell transplants from one individual to another carry with them the risk of acute graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) – a condition that is difficult to foresee as there are no definitive markers.
However, academics at the University of Florida have developed a preliminary "molecular structure" that could highlight whether a patient may be susceptible to developing the disease.
Dr Vijay Reddy, lead author of the study, said: "Our study enrolled four acute GVHD patients and four acute GVHD-free patients and noted significant differences in the expression of 1,658 genes between the control and acute GVHD patients."
Other measures taken to minimize the risk of GVHD include using a closely matched donor or a cord blood unit, according to the National Marrow Donor Program.
