Human cutaneous graft-versus-host disease.

The natural history of human cutaneous graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) has been described as a consequence of allogeneic bone-marrow transplants, but syngeneic and even autologous marrow transplants are now being recognized as being associated with similar, albeit less severe, changes. The histopathologic changes of both acute and chronic GVHD have been reported and show similarities to other idiopathic cutaneous disorders. The T-lymphocyte, specifically an OKT8+ cell, seems to play a major role in the pathogenesis of cutaneous GVHD. A recently described in vitro model of human cutaneous GVHD using skin explants co-cultured with lymphocytes holds some promise as a technique to further explore lymphocyte-skin interactions.