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 Printable version |
Early pre-engraftment, functional, in vitro responsiveness of T lymphocytes in allotransplanted, acute leukemia patients: proliferation and release of a broad profile of cytokines, possibly predictive of graft-versus-host disease |
European Cytokine Network. Volume 21, Number 1, 40-9, March 2010, Research article
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 Free Article
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Author(s) : Knut Liseth, Malvin Sjo, Kristin Paulsen, Øystein Bruserud, Elisabeth Ersvaer |
Summary : Previous studies of T cell reconstitution following allogeneic stem cell transplantation have described long-lasting T cell defects, including decreased levels of autocrine proliferating CD4+ T cells. However, T cell functions during the early phase of conditioning-induced, pre-engraftment pancytopenia have not been characterized previously. We used a whole blood assay to investigate T cell proliferation and cytokine release during the period of pre-engraftment cytopenia. The study included 13 acute leukemia patients receiving myeloablative conditioning followed by transplantation of G-CSF-mobilised peripheral blood stem cells derived from HLA-matched family donors. Maximal proliferation and cytokine release could not be reached by anti-CD3 stimulation alone, but was dependent on the presence of additional costimulation with anti-CD28. Circulating T cells showed a broad cytokine release profile after activation, and the highest levels were detected for IFNγ, GM-CSF and IL-6. Correlation analyses showed that TNFα/IL-4/IL-5/IL-13 in particular were released as a separate cluster, IFNγ and GM-CSF correlated strongly, whereas IL-17 showed a weak correlation to IL-6 only. The capacity of circulating T cells derived during pre-engraftment cytopenia to release high levels of IFNγ, IL-6 and IL-17 in response to in vitro activation with anti-CD3+anti-CD28 showed statistically significant correlations with later acute GVHD. We conclude that allotransplanted patients have a functional T cell system even during the pre-engraftment period of severe pancytopenia. |
Keywords : allogeneic stem cell transplantation, pancytopenia, T cells, IFNγ, IL-17 |
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