DONOR LYMPHOCYTE TRANSFUSION FOR THE TREATMENT OF EPSTEIN-BARR-VIRUS-ASSOCIATED LYMPHOPROLIFERATIVE DISORDER OF THE BRAIN

EBV-associated lymphoproliferative disorder (LPD) is a rare but seriou s complication in marrow transplant recipients. A 31-year-old Japanese woman in the second chronic phase of CML received an allogeneic BMT f rom her HLA 2-locus-incompatible 62-year-old father. Around day +200, she developed EBV-LPD of the right parieto-temporal lobe which caused slowly progressive left hemiparesis. Two courses of donor lymphocyte t ransfusions (DLT) of 10(6) CD3(+) T cells/kg of body weight failed to suppress her central nervous system (CNS) EBV-LPD. The patient died of recurrent blastic crisis of CML. This case suggests that DLT may be i neffective for the treatment of CNS EBV-LPD.