SALIVARY AND SERUM IMMUNOGLOBULINS IN RECIPIENTS OF TRANSPLANTED ALLOGENEIC AND AUTOLOGOUS BONE-MARROW

Significantly decreased levels of all classes Ig were found in saliva and serum of 85 patients before and up to 5 years after bone marrow tr ansplantation (BMT). Salivary levels of IgG were increased before BMT in patients that died shortly after transplantation (p = 0.04). Signif icantly higher secretory IgA (sIgA) levels in saliva were noted in pat ients with malignant disorders than in those with non-malignant diseas es, both before (p = 0.007) and after BMT (p = 0.011). Recipients of a utologous marrow had higher levels of salivary sIgA before BMT than re cipients of allogeneic bone marrow (p = 0.020). With increased BM cell dose at transplantation, lower levels of salivary IgG and albumin wer e found. Patients with cytomegalovirus infections after transplantatio n showed increased salivary IgG levels (p = 0.029). Individuals with c hronic GVHD had less salivary IgM one year after BMT (median value 3.2 mg/l, p = 0.04) than those without chronic GVHD (median value 42.6 mg /l). All Ig classes in serum were decreased directly after BMT and lat er normalized. Salivary levels of all Ig classes except IgD fluctuated post-BMT.