The Effect of Prior Transfusion on Marrow Grafts between Histocompatible Canine Siblings

Abstract Twenty-three canine littermate donor-recipient pairs were matched on the basis of histocompatibility typing with four lymphocytotoxic isoantisera. Eighteen of the 23 pairs were also tested in a one-way mixed leukocyte culture (MLC). Recipient dogs were given 1580 R whole body irradiation followed within 4 hr by infusion of marrow from the donor. Group 1 consisted of 10 recipients not given a preceding blood transfusion. Group 2 was made up of 13 dogs given a single transfusion of 100 ml of blood from the donor 10 days before irradiation. Seven of the 10 recipients in group 1 showed prompt and sustained marrow engraftment and survived beyond 70 days. Three died within 22 days of transplantation, two of marrow graft rejection and one of graft-vs-host disease. These three were mismatched with their donors in MLC. Only one of the 13 pretransfused recipients in group 2 lived beyond 70 days. Twelve dogs died within 36 days including eight that were matched by MLC as well as by serologic test. In most of these animals there was evidence of successful marrow engraftment followed by rejection. The results show that, even in histocompatible donor-recipient pairs, a single prior blood transfusion from the donor to the recipient significantly diminishes the chance of long-term survival following the marrow graft (p 0.01).