A case of hepatitis-associated aplastic anaemia following living-donor liver transplantation for fulminant hepatitis showing loss of heterozygosity in the 6p chromosome in the affected liver

Br J Haematol. 2024 Feb;204(2):623-627. doi: 10.1111/bjh.19219. Epub 2023 Nov 27.

Abstract

The mechanisms underlying hepatitis-associated aplastic anaemia (HAAA) that occurs several weeks after the development of acute hepatitis are unknown. A 20-year-old male developed HAAA following living-donor liver transplantation for fulminant hepatitis. The patient's leucocytes lacked HLA-class I due to loss of heterozygosity in the short arm of chromosome 6p (6pLOH). Interestingly, the patient's liver cells resected during the transplantation also exhibited 6pLOH that affected the same HLA haplotype as the leucocytes, suggesting that CD8+ T cells recognizing antigens presented by specific HLA molecules on liver cells may have attacked the haematopoietic stem cells of the patient, leading to the HAAA development.

Keywords: detection of HLA allele-lacking cells by NanoString nCounter system; flow cytometry and SNP array-based GeneChip array analysis; hepatitis-associated aplastic anaemia; living-donor liver transplantation for fulminant hepatitis; loss of heterozygosity in chromosome 6p.

Publication types

  • Case Reports
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Anemia, Aplastic* / genetics
  • CD8-Positive T-Lymphocytes
  • Hepatitis A*
  • Hepatitis*
  • Humans
  • Liver Transplantation*
  • Living Donors
  • Loss of Heterozygosity
  • Male
  • Massive Hepatic Necrosis*
  • Young Adult