Table of ContentsView AllTable of ContentsGeneticsCommon Risk FactorsLifestyle Risk FactorsTreatment ConsiderationsNext in Graft-Versus-Host Disease GuideHow Graft-Versus-Host Disease (GvHD) Is Diagnosed
Table of ContentsView All
View All
Table of Contents
Genetics
Common Risk Factors
Lifestyle Risk Factors
Treatment Considerations
Next in Graft-Versus-Host Disease Guide
While most risk factors are non-modifiable (you can’t change them), identifying them can help your doctor decide if a stem cell or bone marrow transplant is the most appropriate option.
This article will discuss the underlying cause of graft-versus-host disease, risk factors, and treatment choices that can affect the risk.
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Theseantigensare inherited as a matched set from your genetic parents—one set from one parent and one set from your other parent—and serve as cellular “ID tags,” helping theimmune systemdifferentiate yourcells from foreign cells (like viruses and cancer).
If an antigen is regarded as foreign, the immune system will activate white blood cells calledleukocytesto fight the invader. In people with GvHD, the donor tissues ultimately “misread” HLA and launch a hostile assault against normal cells and tissues.
Inheritance Patterns
To better help avoid GvHD, doctors will perform extensive tests, calledHLA typing, to see if the donor and recipient are a “match.” Siblings are generally considered the best donors because they get their genes from the same parents. With that said, the set of HLA that one child inherits may not be the same as what the other child inherits.
To be an “identical match,” the donor and recipient will need to have inherited the same set of antigens—namely HLA-A, HLA-B, and HLA-DR—fromeachof their parents.
Because each parent also has two sets of HLA-A, HLA-B, and HLA-DR (which they inherited from their parents), a sibling ultimately has a one-in-four chance of being an “identical match.”
GvHD Incidence
Even if siblings are an identical match, there is no guarantee that GvHD won’t occur. In some cases, tissues from a matched donor can still trigger a hostile immune response.
Although there are tests that can help predict this—called crossmatch testing—there will always remain a risk of GvHD with any allogeneic transplant (meaning a transplant in which the donor and recipient are different people).
In some cases, this can lead to acute GvHD (in which symptoms develop within the first 100 days) and, in others, chronic GvHD (occurring after 100 days).
StatisticsStudies suggest that between 40% and 50% of people receiving a transplant from an HLA-matched sibling will develop acute GvHD, while 30% to 70% will develop chronic GvHD.
Statistics
Studies suggest that between 40% and 50% of people receiving a transplant from an HLA-matched sibling will develop acute GvHD, while 30% to 70% will develop chronic GvHD.
The risk of GvHD increases if an HLA-matched second- or third-degree relative (such as a cousin) is recruited as a donor, or if the matched donor is unrelated.And, in some cases, the doctor may have no option but to use an HLA-mismatched donor if the benefits outweigh the risks.
Evenautologoustransplants, in which the donor and recipient are the same person, can sometimes trigger GvHD, albeit less commonly and typically less seriously.
While genetics play a central role in predicting the risk of GvHD, they are not the only risk factor. And even though these risk factors are non-modifiable, their identification can aid with donor selection and, in some cases, determine which type of transplant is most appropriate.
Acute GvHD
By definition, acute GvHD occurs within the first 100 days of a transplant and most commonly affects the skin, liver, and gastrointestinal tract. Most cases develop within the first few weeks.
Some of the risk factors associated with acute GvHD include:
Other risk factors may contribute, including having acomorbid (co-occurring) disease, having had yourspleen removed, and undergoing a post-transplanttransfusion.
Chronic GvHD
Some of the risk factors for chronic GvHD are the same as for acute GvHD, while others are different. These include:
While smoking, diet, and other lifestyle choices commonly influence health outcomes, none of these have any direct impact on whether you experience GvHD or not. With that said, there is evidence that yourperformance status—meaning your level of ability to perform daily tasks—can influence the risk of GvHD.
Performance status is most commonly measured using the Karnofsky Performance Status Scale (KPS), which describes a person’s functional status based on a scale of 0% (for death) to 100% (no limitation of activity).
A 2019 study from the University of Michigan Medical School found a direct association between a transplant recipient’s performance status and the incidence of chronic GvHD of the lungs, muscles, joints, and liver. The higher the KPS score, the lower the risk of these specific conditions.
Other studies have found that a KPS score of 80% or greater is associated with improvedoverall survivaland a reduced risk of GvHD relapse.
This suggests that keeping active and staying healthy may lower the risk of developing GvHD over the long term (or, at the very least, having less severe GvHD symptoms).
Transplant Selection
The choice of allogeneic transplant plays a central role in GvHD prevention. Depending on the type of disease being treated—whether malignant (cancerous) or nonmalignant (noncancerous)—the choice of transplant can vary from one individual to the next.
In people with a malignant disease, a peripheral blood stem cell transplant is considered a high priority as it contains five to 10 times more donor cells than a bone marrow transplant. While this may increase the risk of acute GvHD, the benefits generally outweigh the risks.
By contrast, in people with a nonmalignant disease—such assickle cell diseaseorthalassemia—a bone marrow transplant may be preferred as it is associated with a lower risk of acute and chronic GvHD.
T-Cell Depletion
Other treatment choices play a role in the prevention of GvHD. Chief among these is a procedure called T-cell depletion in which white blood cells calledT-cell lymphocytesare extracted from the donor graft.
These cells are responsible for instigating the immune response. Removing T-cells makes the graft less likely to act against the recipient’s own cells and tissues.
There are two main methods used for T-cell depletion (TCD):
Both techniques have their benefits and risks. For example, whileexvivoTCD generally offers the best results in GvHD prevention, it may not improve survival in people with certain cancers, such asacute myeloid leukemia (AML).
Similarly, whilein vivoTCD is regarded as the standard of GvHD prevention following a peripheral blood stem cell transplant, such transplants typically require post-transplantimmunosuppressantslike cyclosporine and methotrexate, which can be toxic. Conditions treated withex vivoTCD may not.
By weighing the benefits and risks of the various treatment options, your doctor can select the treatments that are not only the most effective but less likely to cause GvHD.
Summary
The underlying cause of graft-versus-host disease is a mismatch in the genes between the donor and the recipient. There are a few other factors that may increase the risk. A peripheral blood stem cell transplant has a higher risk of GvHD than a bone marrow transplant. T-cell depletion may be used to reduce the risk.
18 SourcesVerywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Turner G, Simpson B, Roberts TK.Genetics, human major histocompatibility complex (MHC). In:StatPearls [Internet].Zeiser R, Blazar BR.Acute graft-versus-host disease - biologic process, prevention, and therapy.N Engl J Med. 2017;377(22):2167-79. doi:10.1056/NEJMra1609337Dignan FL, Clark A, Amrolia P, et al.Diagnosis and management of acute graft-versus-host disease.Br J Haematol. 2012;158(1):30-45. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2141.2012.09129.xLazaryan A, Weisdorf DJ, Defor T, et al.Risk factors for acute and chronic graft-versus-host disease after allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation with umbilical cord blood and matched sibling donors.Biol Blood Marrow Transplant. 2016;22(1):134-40. doi:10.1016/j.bbmt.2015.09.008Flowers ME, Inamoto Y, Carpenter PA, et al.Comparative analysis of risk factors for acute graft-versus-host disease and for chronic graft-versus-host disease according to National Institutes of Health consensus criteria.Blood. 2011;117(11):3214-9. doi:10.1182/blood-2010-08-302109Hammami MB, Talkin R, Al-Taee AM, Schoen MW, Goyal SD, Lin JP.Autologous graft-versus-host disease of the gastrointestinal tract in patients with multiple myeloma and hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.Gastroenterolog Res. 2018 Feb;11(1):52-7. doi:10.14740/gr925wJustiz Valliant AA, Modi P, Mohammadi O.Graft versus host disease. In:StatPearls [Internet].Nannya Y, Kataoka K, Hangaishi A, Imai Y, Takahashi T, Kurokawa M.The negative impact of female donor/male recipient combination in allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation depends on disease risk.Transpl Int. 2011 May;24(5):469-76. doi:10.1111/j.1432-2277.2011.01229.xBacigalupo A, Innocenti I, Rossi E, et al.Allogeneic hemopoietic stem cell transplantation for myelofibrosis: 2021.Front Immunol.2021;12:637512. doi:10.3389/fimmu.2021.637512Lee SJ.Classification systems for chronic graft-versus-host disease.Blood. 2017;129(1):30-7. doi:10.1182/blood-2016-07-686642Arora M, Pidala J, Cutler CS, Kurland B.Impact of prior acute GVHD on chronic GVHD outcomes; a chronic graft versus host disease consortium study.Leukemia.2013 Apr;27(5):1196-1202. doi:10.1038/leu.2012.292Péus D, Newcomb N, Hofer S.Appraisal of the Karnofsky Performance Status and proposal of a simple algorithmic system for its evaluation.BMC Med Inform Decis Mak. 2013;13:72. doi:10.1186/1472-6947-13-72Andrews C, Smith S, Kennel M, Schilling S, Kalpakjian C.The association of performance status and disease severity in patients with chronic graft-versus-host disease.Arch Phys Med Rehabil. 2019 Apr;100(4):606-12. doi:10.1016/j.apmr.2018.04.034Saraceni F, Labopin M, Forcade E, et al.Allogeneic stem cell transplant in patients with acute myeloid leukemia and Karnofsky Performance Status score less than or equal to 80%: a study from the Acute Leukemia Working Party of the European Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation (EBMT).Cancer Med. 2021 Jan;10(1):23-33. doi:10.1002/cam4.3593Rezvani AR, Storb RF.Prevention of graft-vs-host disease.Expert Opin Pharmacother.2012 Aug;13(12):1737-50. doi:10.1517/14656566.2012.703652Bryant AR, Perales MA.Advances in ex vivo T cell depletion - where do we stand?Adv Cell Gene Ther.2019 Jan;2(1):e29. doi:10.1002/acg2.29Malard F, Labopin M, Cho C, et al.Ex vivo and in vivo T cell-depleted allogeneic stem cell transplantation in patients with acute myeloid leukemia in first complete remission resulted in similar overall survival: on behalf of the ALWP of the EBMT and the MSKCC.J Hematol Oncol. 2018;11:127. doi:10.1186/s13045-018-0668-3Antin JH.T-cell depletion in GVHD: less is more?Blood.2011;117(23):6061-2. doi:10.1182/blood-2011-04-348409
18 Sources
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Turner G, Simpson B, Roberts TK.Genetics, human major histocompatibility complex (MHC). In:StatPearls [Internet].Zeiser R, Blazar BR.Acute graft-versus-host disease - biologic process, prevention, and therapy.N Engl J Med. 2017;377(22):2167-79. doi:10.1056/NEJMra1609337Dignan FL, Clark A, Amrolia P, et al.Diagnosis and management of acute graft-versus-host disease.Br J Haematol. 2012;158(1):30-45. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2141.2012.09129.xLazaryan A, Weisdorf DJ, Defor T, et al.Risk factors for acute and chronic graft-versus-host disease after allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation with umbilical cord blood and matched sibling donors.Biol Blood Marrow Transplant. 2016;22(1):134-40. doi:10.1016/j.bbmt.2015.09.008Flowers ME, Inamoto Y, Carpenter PA, et al.Comparative analysis of risk factors for acute graft-versus-host disease and for chronic graft-versus-host disease according to National Institutes of Health consensus criteria.Blood. 2011;117(11):3214-9. doi:10.1182/blood-2010-08-302109Hammami MB, Talkin R, Al-Taee AM, Schoen MW, Goyal SD, Lin JP.Autologous graft-versus-host disease of the gastrointestinal tract in patients with multiple myeloma and hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.Gastroenterolog Res. 2018 Feb;11(1):52-7. doi:10.14740/gr925wJustiz Valliant AA, Modi P, Mohammadi O.Graft versus host disease. In:StatPearls [Internet].Nannya Y, Kataoka K, Hangaishi A, Imai Y, Takahashi T, Kurokawa M.The negative impact of female donor/male recipient combination in allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation depends on disease risk.Transpl Int. 2011 May;24(5):469-76. doi:10.1111/j.1432-2277.2011.01229.xBacigalupo A, Innocenti I, Rossi E, et al.Allogeneic hemopoietic stem cell transplantation for myelofibrosis: 2021.Front Immunol.2021;12:637512. doi:10.3389/fimmu.2021.637512Lee SJ.Classification systems for chronic graft-versus-host disease.Blood. 2017;129(1):30-7. doi:10.1182/blood-2016-07-686642Arora M, Pidala J, Cutler CS, Kurland B.Impact of prior acute GVHD on chronic GVHD outcomes; a chronic graft versus host disease consortium study.Leukemia.2013 Apr;27(5):1196-1202. doi:10.1038/leu.2012.292Péus D, Newcomb N, Hofer S.Appraisal of the Karnofsky Performance Status and proposal of a simple algorithmic system for its evaluation.BMC Med Inform Decis Mak. 2013;13:72. doi:10.1186/1472-6947-13-72Andrews C, Smith S, Kennel M, Schilling S, Kalpakjian C.The association of performance status and disease severity in patients with chronic graft-versus-host disease.Arch Phys Med Rehabil. 2019 Apr;100(4):606-12. doi:10.1016/j.apmr.2018.04.034Saraceni F, Labopin M, Forcade E, et al.Allogeneic stem cell transplant in patients with acute myeloid leukemia and Karnofsky Performance Status score less than or equal to 80%: a study from the Acute Leukemia Working Party of the European Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation (EBMT).Cancer Med. 2021 Jan;10(1):23-33. doi:10.1002/cam4.3593Rezvani AR, Storb RF.Prevention of graft-vs-host disease.Expert Opin Pharmacother.2012 Aug;13(12):1737-50. doi:10.1517/14656566.2012.703652Bryant AR, Perales MA.Advances in ex vivo T cell depletion - where do we stand?Adv Cell Gene Ther.2019 Jan;2(1):e29. doi:10.1002/acg2.29Malard F, Labopin M, Cho C, et al.Ex vivo and in vivo T cell-depleted allogeneic stem cell transplantation in patients with acute myeloid leukemia in first complete remission resulted in similar overall survival: on behalf of the ALWP of the EBMT and the MSKCC.J Hematol Oncol. 2018;11:127. doi:10.1186/s13045-018-0668-3Antin JH.T-cell depletion in GVHD: less is more?Blood.2011;117(23):6061-2. doi:10.1182/blood-2011-04-348409
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.
Turner G, Simpson B, Roberts TK.Genetics, human major histocompatibility complex (MHC). In:StatPearls [Internet].Zeiser R, Blazar BR.Acute graft-versus-host disease - biologic process, prevention, and therapy.N Engl J Med. 2017;377(22):2167-79. doi:10.1056/NEJMra1609337Dignan FL, Clark A, Amrolia P, et al.Diagnosis and management of acute graft-versus-host disease.Br J Haematol. 2012;158(1):30-45. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2141.2012.09129.xLazaryan A, Weisdorf DJ, Defor T, et al.Risk factors for acute and chronic graft-versus-host disease after allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation with umbilical cord blood and matched sibling donors.Biol Blood Marrow Transplant. 2016;22(1):134-40. doi:10.1016/j.bbmt.2015.09.008Flowers ME, Inamoto Y, Carpenter PA, et al.Comparative analysis of risk factors for acute graft-versus-host disease and for chronic graft-versus-host disease according to National Institutes of Health consensus criteria.Blood. 2011;117(11):3214-9. doi:10.1182/blood-2010-08-302109Hammami MB, Talkin R, Al-Taee AM, Schoen MW, Goyal SD, Lin JP.Autologous graft-versus-host disease of the gastrointestinal tract in patients with multiple myeloma and hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.Gastroenterolog Res. 2018 Feb;11(1):52-7. doi:10.14740/gr925wJustiz Valliant AA, Modi P, Mohammadi O.Graft versus host disease. In:StatPearls [Internet].Nannya Y, Kataoka K, Hangaishi A, Imai Y, Takahashi T, Kurokawa M.The negative impact of female donor/male recipient combination in allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation depends on disease risk.Transpl Int. 2011 May;24(5):469-76. doi:10.1111/j.1432-2277.2011.01229.xBacigalupo A, Innocenti I, Rossi E, et al.Allogeneic hemopoietic stem cell transplantation for myelofibrosis: 2021.Front Immunol.2021;12:637512. doi:10.3389/fimmu.2021.637512Lee SJ.Classification systems for chronic graft-versus-host disease.Blood. 2017;129(1):30-7. doi:10.1182/blood-2016-07-686642Arora M, Pidala J, Cutler CS, Kurland B.Impact of prior acute GVHD on chronic GVHD outcomes; a chronic graft versus host disease consortium study.Leukemia.2013 Apr;27(5):1196-1202. doi:10.1038/leu.2012.292Péus D, Newcomb N, Hofer S.Appraisal of the Karnofsky Performance Status and proposal of a simple algorithmic system for its evaluation.BMC Med Inform Decis Mak. 2013;13:72. doi:10.1186/1472-6947-13-72Andrews C, Smith S, Kennel M, Schilling S, Kalpakjian C.The association of performance status and disease severity in patients with chronic graft-versus-host disease.Arch Phys Med Rehabil. 2019 Apr;100(4):606-12. doi:10.1016/j.apmr.2018.04.034Saraceni F, Labopin M, Forcade E, et al.Allogeneic stem cell transplant in patients with acute myeloid leukemia and Karnofsky Performance Status score less than or equal to 80%: a study from the Acute Leukemia Working Party of the European Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation (EBMT).Cancer Med. 2021 Jan;10(1):23-33. doi:10.1002/cam4.3593Rezvani AR, Storb RF.Prevention of graft-vs-host disease.Expert Opin Pharmacother.2012 Aug;13(12):1737-50. doi:10.1517/14656566.2012.703652Bryant AR, Perales MA.Advances in ex vivo T cell depletion - where do we stand?Adv Cell Gene Ther.2019 Jan;2(1):e29. doi:10.1002/acg2.29Malard F, Labopin M, Cho C, et al.Ex vivo and in vivo T cell-depleted allogeneic stem cell transplantation in patients with acute myeloid leukemia in first complete remission resulted in similar overall survival: on behalf of the ALWP of the EBMT and the MSKCC.J Hematol Oncol. 2018;11:127. doi:10.1186/s13045-018-0668-3Antin JH.T-cell depletion in GVHD: less is more?Blood.2011;117(23):6061-2. doi:10.1182/blood-2011-04-348409
Turner G, Simpson B, Roberts TK.Genetics, human major histocompatibility complex (MHC). In:StatPearls [Internet].
Zeiser R, Blazar BR.Acute graft-versus-host disease - biologic process, prevention, and therapy.N Engl J Med. 2017;377(22):2167-79. doi:10.1056/NEJMra1609337
Dignan FL, Clark A, Amrolia P, et al.Diagnosis and management of acute graft-versus-host disease.Br J Haematol. 2012;158(1):30-45. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2141.2012.09129.x
Lazaryan A, Weisdorf DJ, Defor T, et al.Risk factors for acute and chronic graft-versus-host disease after allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation with umbilical cord blood and matched sibling donors.Biol Blood Marrow Transplant. 2016;22(1):134-40. doi:10.1016/j.bbmt.2015.09.008
Flowers ME, Inamoto Y, Carpenter PA, et al.Comparative analysis of risk factors for acute graft-versus-host disease and for chronic graft-versus-host disease according to National Institutes of Health consensus criteria.Blood. 2011;117(11):3214-9. doi:10.1182/blood-2010-08-302109
Hammami MB, Talkin R, Al-Taee AM, Schoen MW, Goyal SD, Lin JP.Autologous graft-versus-host disease of the gastrointestinal tract in patients with multiple myeloma and hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.Gastroenterolog Res. 2018 Feb;11(1):52-7. doi:10.14740/gr925w
Justiz Valliant AA, Modi P, Mohammadi O.Graft versus host disease. In:StatPearls [Internet].
Nannya Y, Kataoka K, Hangaishi A, Imai Y, Takahashi T, Kurokawa M.The negative impact of female donor/male recipient combination in allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation depends on disease risk.Transpl Int. 2011 May;24(5):469-76. doi:10.1111/j.1432-2277.2011.01229.x
Bacigalupo A, Innocenti I, Rossi E, et al.Allogeneic hemopoietic stem cell transplantation for myelofibrosis: 2021.Front Immunol.2021;12:637512. doi:10.3389/fimmu.2021.637512
Lee SJ.Classification systems for chronic graft-versus-host disease.Blood. 2017;129(1):30-7. doi:10.1182/blood-2016-07-686642
Arora M, Pidala J, Cutler CS, Kurland B.Impact of prior acute GVHD on chronic GVHD outcomes; a chronic graft versus host disease consortium study.Leukemia.2013 Apr;27(5):1196-1202. doi:10.1038/leu.2012.292
Péus D, Newcomb N, Hofer S.Appraisal of the Karnofsky Performance Status and proposal of a simple algorithmic system for its evaluation.BMC Med Inform Decis Mak. 2013;13:72. doi:10.1186/1472-6947-13-72
Andrews C, Smith S, Kennel M, Schilling S, Kalpakjian C.The association of performance status and disease severity in patients with chronic graft-versus-host disease.Arch Phys Med Rehabil. 2019 Apr;100(4):606-12. doi:10.1016/j.apmr.2018.04.034
Saraceni F, Labopin M, Forcade E, et al.Allogeneic stem cell transplant in patients with acute myeloid leukemia and Karnofsky Performance Status score less than or equal to 80%: a study from the Acute Leukemia Working Party of the European Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation (EBMT).Cancer Med. 2021 Jan;10(1):23-33. doi:10.1002/cam4.3593
Rezvani AR, Storb RF.Prevention of graft-vs-host disease.Expert Opin Pharmacother.2012 Aug;13(12):1737-50. doi:10.1517/14656566.2012.703652
Bryant AR, Perales MA.Advances in ex vivo T cell depletion - where do we stand?Adv Cell Gene Ther.2019 Jan;2(1):e29. doi:10.1002/acg2.29
Malard F, Labopin M, Cho C, et al.Ex vivo and in vivo T cell-depleted allogeneic stem cell transplantation in patients with acute myeloid leukemia in first complete remission resulted in similar overall survival: on behalf of the ALWP of the EBMT and the MSKCC.J Hematol Oncol. 2018;11:127. doi:10.1186/s13045-018-0668-3
Antin JH.T-cell depletion in GVHD: less is more?Blood.2011;117(23):6061-2. doi:10.1182/blood-2011-04-348409
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