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Transplantation of allogeneic noncord-blood stem cells is complicated by autoimmune diseases (ADs) in 5% of recipients. However, the risk for AD might be lower with cord-blood transplantation (CBT) because cord-blood lymphocytes are immunologically naive and less likely to result in graft versus host disease (GVHD). To assess the incidence of AD after CBT, investigators in the European Group for Blood and Marrow Transplantation performed a retrospective review of 778 patients who received CBT between 1992 and 2008.
During a median of 212 days after CBT, 52 patients (6.7%) developed ≥1 AD. The cumulative incidence of ADs was 5%±1% at 1 year and 6.6%±1% at 5 years after CBT. Most ADs were hematologic, including autoimmune hemolytic anemia (49%…