Bone marrow transplantation in a Holstein heifer with bovine leucocyte adhesion deficiency.

Bone marrow transplantation (BMT) was performed in a 9-month-old heifer with bovine leucocyte adhesion deficiency (BLAD). Clinical and haematological findings, selected neutrophil function and CD18 expression of neutrophils in a B2 integrin-deficient heifer were examined. Twelve months after BMT, a small fluorescent region in the CD18-positive area of a flow cytometric profile was demonstrated and estimated to represent 0.3-0.5% of the CD18-positive neutrophils as measured by flow cytometric analysis following immunomagnetic separation. The animal's clinical condition appeared to improve and stabilize over our observation period of 28 months following BMT. Newly expressed CD18 seemed to play an important role in ameliorating the clinical signs of BLAD in this heifer.