Treatment of GVHD
Intravenously administered glucocorticoids, such as prednisone, are the standard of care in acute GVHD and chronic GVHD. The use of these glucocorticoids is designed to suppress the T-cell-mediated immune onslaught on the host tissues; however, in high doses, this immune-suppression raises the risk of infections and cancer relapse. Therefore, it is desirable to taper off the post-transplant high-level steroid doses to lower levels, at which point the appearance of mild GVHD may be welcome, especially in HLA mis-matched patients, as it is typically associated with a graft-versus-tumor effect.
Read more about this topic: Graft-versus-host Disease
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