Because Grace was born without a thymus (see previous blog post) her body does not produce T cells which fight against viral infections in her body. This means that she is at a high risk to contract an infection and that a common cold can become deadly for her. Already, this situation is very complex, but recently it has come to light that Grace has some rogue T cells that exist in her body without a thymus to direct them. These cells that normally help to protect your body against disease are actually fighting the good cells in Grace’s body. 

As a result of the rogue T cells, Grace has developed a painful and itchy rash over her body. This rash has become progressively worse, and if left untreated could lead to more severe and concerning symptoms. After a couple months of treating the rash with topical creams to no avail, Grace’s doctor’s elected to look towards other forms of treatment to eliminate those rogue T cells.

The first treatment they tried was an immunosuppressant to, as the name suggests, suppress her immune system which includes those rogue T cells. This treatment seemed to have no effect on her rash, so the doctors moved to the next step up, which is a drug that gets rid of both B and T cells. The hope was that this drug would eliminate the rogue T cells in her body and help the rash be gone.

 After one round of this treatment, there seemed to be a noticeable difference in Grace’s rash, and the hope was that the drug had done its job. Unfortunately, within just a few days her rash was back and just as bad as before. Grace was admitted to the hospital for another round of treatment, but this time there was no noticeable change in her rash afterwards. The doctors are continuing to consider what option is best for Grace. We need to get rid of these nasty T cells, but the hope is that the doctors are able to do this without causing harm to another part of her body, like her kidneys.