Disappearance of lupus anticoagulant after allogeneic bone marrow transplantation

Abstract

Lupus anticoagulant antibodies have never been reported to disappear after either allogeneic or autologous bone marrow transplantation in humans. We report the first case of disappearance of lupus anticoagulant antibodies in a patient without systemic lupus erythematosus or clinical evidence of other autoimmune disorders, who received an allogeneic bone marrow transplant as treatment for chronic myeloid leukemia. Although marrow transplantation is not a recognized therapy for antiphospholipid syndrome, our observation should be considered another example of the capability of intensive chemo-radiotherapy followed by stem cell transplantation to ablate a pathologic marrow clone resulting in an autoimmune disorder and improve, or even cure, some severe autoimmune diseases.