Elevated serum interleukin-15 level in acute graft-versus-host disease after hematopoietic cell transplantation.
OBJECTIVE
To correlate serum cytokine levels and the development of acute graft-versus-host disease (GVHD), the authors conducted a prospective study on serial measurements of interferon (IFN)-gamma and interleukin (IL)-10, IL-12 and IL-15.


METHODS
The cytokines were measured in 27 subjects by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay serially for the first 2 months after hematopoietic cell transplantation.


RESULTS
Nineteen subjects with acute GVHD had significantly higher mean peak serum levels of IFN-gamma and IL-15 than the baseline levels at the start of conditioning. The peak level occurred soon after stem cell infusion and returned to the pretransplantation state in the second month. In contrast, there was lesser difference between the mean peak serum levels of IFN-gamma, IL-10, and IL-15 and the baseline level in the eight subjects without GVHD. The peak serum level for IL-15 was, in addition, significantly higher among GVHD subjects than those without GVHD in the first month posttransplantation. However, the level of IL-15 showed no correlation with the severity of GVHD.


CONCLUSIONS
These changes point to a possible role of systemic cytokine secretion in the development of acute GVHD. Elevated levels of IL-15 early in the posttransplant period could be a helpful laboratory predictor of acute GVHD.
Chik
Ki-wai
KW
Department of Pediatrics, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Peoples Republic of China. kiwai-chik@cuhk.edu.hk
Li
Karen
K
Pong
Henry
H
Shing
Matthew Ming-kong
MM
Li
Chi-Kong
CK
Yuen
Patrick Man-pan
PM
D000208:Acute Disease; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006086:Graft vs Host Disease / Q000097:blood* / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology; D018380:Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation / Q000009:adverse effects*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007371:Interferon-gamma / Q000097:blood; D016753:Interleukin-10 / Q000097:blood; D019409:Interleukin-15 / Q000097:blood*; D008297:Male; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D018417:Th1 Cells; D018418:Th2 Cells
D019409:Interleukin-15; D016753:Interleukin-10; D007371:Interferon-gamma