Successful treatment of an infant with severe combined immunodeficiency by transplantation of bone marrow cells from an uncle

A 4½-month-old boy suffering from congenital severe combined immunodeficiency was successfully treated by transplantation of bone marrow-derived cells. His parents were cousins in the first degree. The donor was a 32-year-old maternal uncle, who was HL-A genotypically identical with the patient as was shown by serological typing and MLC. A stem cell rich fraction of the donor's bone marrow was prepared by albumin gradient centrifugation. The infant showed a full immunological reconstitution without any sign of GVH disease. Remarkably the only allotypic marker of his IgG which was different from the donor allotype remained in the serum after transplantation, and even showed an increase of its level. The infant was nursed in strict reverse isolation and his unfavourable endogenous microflora of high potential pathogenicity was eliminated by antibiotic decontamination.