Long‐term effects of bone marrow transplantation (BMT) were evaluated in patients with I‐cell disease, metachromatic leukodystrophy (MLD), Maroteaux‐Lamy syndrome or Hunter syndrome (mild form). Donors were human leukocyte antigen (HLA)‐matched siblings, and the follow‐up periods were 24–71 months after BMT. The enzyme activities were increased in leukocytes, plasma or liver tissues compared with pre‐BMT levels. A patient with I‐cell disease acquired development of 4–8 month old infants and showed no further progression in cardiac dysfunctions. A patient with MLD showed a decelerated disease progression and an improved peripheral neuropathy, but progressive brain atrophy was not prevented. Patients with Maroteaux‐Lamy syndrome or Hunter syndrome showed improvements in hepatomegaly, joint contractures, short stature and tight skin, and this greatly increased their quality of life. These results indicated that the long‐term therapeutic effects achieved by BMT were subject to multiple factors including biochemical improvements, a reversibility of affected tissues, or advanced states of disease and central nervous system impairments in inborn errors of metabolism.

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Summary. We report a 13-year-old girl with Down's syndrome (DS) having a mosaic karyotype of 46,XX/46,XX, ¹21,þi(21q), who developed acute myelogenous leukaemia (AML) (FAB M1). The t(8;21) translocation generating a AML1/MTG8 chimaeric gene of her blasts was demonstrated by cytogenetic analysis and reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction. Interestingly, the leukaemic clone with t (8;21) did not have isochromosome 21q, indicating that the blasts were of normal cell origin. These findings suggest that, in older patients with DS, 21 trisomy cells have no greater predisposition to develop AML than normal karyotypic cells.

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