Immunohistochemical markers for histopathological diagnosis and differentiation of acute cutaneous graft‐versus‐host disease

Graft-versus-host disease (GvHD) is a major complication following stem-cell or solid-organ transplantation. Accurate diagnosis of cutaneous GvHD is challenging, given that drug eruptions and viral rashes may present with similar clinical/histological manifestations. Specific markers are not available. We performed the histological examination of biopsy samples from acute GvHD (aGvHD; n = 54), Stevens-Johnson syndrome/toxic epidermal necrolysis (SJS/TEN; n = 27), maculopapular drug eruption (MDE; n = 26) and healthy controls (n = 26). Samples of aGvHD showed a decrease in Langerhans cells (LC, p = 0.0001) and an increase in macrophages (MΦ, p = 0.0001) compared to healthy skin. Compared to …