Thymic Function after Hematopoietic Stem-Cell Transplantation for the Treatment of Severe Combined Immunodeficiency

Abstract

Immune function can be restored in infants with severe combined immunodeficiency by transplantation of unfractionated bone marrow from HLA-identical donors or T-cell–depleted marrow stem cells from haploidentical donors, with whom there is a single haplotype mismatch, without the need for chemotherapy before transplantation or prophylaxis against graft-versus-host disease. The role of the thymus in this process is unknown.