ABSTRACT
Understanding the cellular pathology of cutaneous graft-vs.-host disease (GVHD)
requires attention to at least three issues: the gross or clinical pathology of disease, the
histopathology of lesions, including the use of novel adjunctive modalities that may facili-
tate diagnosis, and the pathobiology that underlies the morphological alterations that pro-
duce lesions at these clinical and histological levels. This chapter has been organized
accordingly. The last section deals with pathobiology and presents a conceptual model
for disease initiation and progression that involves three distinctive phases, namely allo-
stimulation, homing, and targeting. It is hoped that this approach will not only facilitate
understanding of the morphological correlates of the fundamental cellular and molecular
events, but also provide a framework that promotes future insights into translationally
relevant research aimed at abrogating this all too often devastating disorder.
