Post-transplant lymphoproliferative disorder

Post-transplant lymphoproliferative disorder
Other namesPTLD
Micrograph of a bronchial biopsy showing infiltrating lymphocytes infected by Epstein–Barr virus. HES stain.
SpecialtyImmunology 

Post-transplant lymphoproliferative disorder (PTLD) is the name given to a B cell proliferation due to therapeutic immunosuppression after organ transplantation. These patients may develop infectious mononucleosis-like lesions or polyclonal polymorphic B-cell hyperplasia. Some of these B cells may undergo mutations which will render them malignant, giving rise to a lymphoma.

In some patients, the malignant cell clone can become the dominant proliferating cell type, leading to frank lymphoma, a group of B cell lymphomas occurring in immunosuppressed patients following organ transplant.