The first biomarker of graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) of the skin has been discovered by researchers at the University of Michigan.

This discovery makes it possible for a simple blood test to solve a treatment dilemma faced by doctors to treat patients who usually develop rashes after bone marrow transplantation.

From Sciencedaily.com:

Rashes are very common in patients after bone marrow transplants. They may signal the onset of acute GVHD. But until now, a skin biopsy was the only reliable way for doctors to determine whether the rash is caused by antibiotics commonly used to treat bone marrow transplant patients, or is instead GVHD of the skin, where the disease appears in about half of cases.

Because a firm diagnosis is not easy and the threat of GVHD is grave, many doctors who suspect a rash is due to GVHD prescribe systemic high-dose steroids to suppress GVHD, which further weaken a patient’s already compromised immune system.

James Ferrara, M.D., Ruth Heyn Endowed Professor of Pediatrics and Communicable Diseases and director of the bone marrow transplant program at U-M and senior author of the study, said that this test would be available to clinicians in the near future.