graft-versus-host disease (GVHD), a rejection response of certain grafts, especially of bone marrow. It is commonly associated with inadequate immunosuppressive therapy of the donor, which allows immunocompetent cells in the donated tissue to recognize the recipient’s tissues as foreign and to attack them. Because the recipient is totally immunosuppressed, the recipient’s immune system cannot defend against the attack. Characteristic signs may include skin lesions with edema, erythema, ulceration, scaling, loss of hair, lesions of the joints and the heart, and hemolytic anemia with a positive Coombs’ test reaction. Also called graft-versus-host reaction, homologous disease.
