graft-versus-host disease

noun

graft-ver·​sus-host disease ˈgraft-ˌvər-səs-ˈhōst- 

: a potentially fatal bodily condition that results when T cells from a tissue or organ transplant and especially a bone marrow transplant react immunologically against the recipient's antigens attacking cells and tissues

Examples of graft-versus-host disease in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The drug has moved on to phase 3 for chronic graft-versus-host disease despite failing in trials for the acute form of the condition. —Lana Barhum, Verywell Health, 15 Jan. 2024

After his stem cell transplant, the Geneva patient developed graft-versus-host disease and doctors treated him with a drug called ruxolitinib, which at the time was being investigated for this complication. —WIRED, 27 July 2023

Stem cell transplantation remains a risky procedure due to serious complications such as graft-versus-host disease, in which the donor’s cells attack the recipient’s cells, damaging tissues and organs. —WIRED, 27 July 2023

Cells donated by someone other than a sibling often behave as though the patients’ own cells are a threat and attack them, a potentially life-threatening complication called graft-versus-host disease. —Jonathan Saltzman, BostonGlobe.com, 1 Apr. 2023

Cronin died in September 2010 at the age of 36 due to complications from graft-versus-host disease, while Lima died in November 2018 at the age of 41 following a battle with cancer. —Edward Segarra, USA TODAY, 31 Mar. 2023

Most patients died from organ rejection, graft-versus-host disease, or both. —WIRED, 5 Jan. 2023

Above-average levels of these cells were also associated with better survival and less graft-versus-host disease in transplant patients. —Kate Ann Markey, The Conversation, 13 July 2022

Up to 50% of patients who receive a stem cell transplant develop graft-versus-host disease. —Kate Ann Markey, The Conversation, 13 July 2022

Word History

First Known Use

1965, in the meaning defined above

Medical Definition

graft-versus-host disease

noun

: a bodily condition that results when T cells from a usually allogeneic tissue or organ transplant and especially a bone marrow transplant react immunologically against the recipient's antigens attacking cells and tissues, that affects especially the skin, gastrointestinal tract, and liver with symptoms including skin rash, fever, diarrhea, liver dysfunction, abdominal pain, and anorexia, and that may be fatal

—abbreviation GVHD

called also graft-versus-host reaction