title: FOXP3 expression in peripheral blood rapidly recovers and lacks correlation with the occurrence of graft-versus-host disease after allogeneic stem cell transplantation.
abstract: CD4+CD25+ regulatory T-cells (Treg cells) that express Foxp3 protein play an important role in inducing and maintaining allogeneic tolerance and can inhibit graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) after allogeneic stem cell transplantation (SCT) in murine models. Thus, it is important to clarify the kinetics of Treg cell recovery and its correlation with the occurrence of GVHD in humans; however, whether there is a correlation between the frequency of Treg cells in peripheral blood and the occurrence of GVHD is controversial. We examined the recovery of Treg cells in peripheral blood after allogeneic SCT by quantitating FOXP3 messenger RNA (mRNA). Full donor chimerism was achieved within 1 month after SCT in all but 1 case. The ratios of the measured expression levels of FOXP3 mRNA to those of endogenous control genes rapidly recovered to the normal range as early as 1 month after SCT. Cross-sectional as well as longitudinal analyses revealed no significant correlation between the expression level of FOXP3 mRNA and the occurrence of acute and chronic GVHD. This study suggests that the level of FOXP3+ cells is normal relative to other cell types from the early period after SCT and that their frequency in peripheral blood relative to total leukocytes or T-cells is not indicative of the occurrence of GVHD.
authors.affiliation: Department of Hematology and Oncology, Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan.
authors.forename: Kazue
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Arimoto
authors.forename: Norimitsu
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kadowaki
authors.forename: Takayuki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ishikawa
authors.forename: Tatsuo
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ichinohe
authors.forename: Takashi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Uchiyama
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D051858:Forkhead Transcription Factors / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000276:immunology; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D006086:Graft vs Host Disease / Q000097:blood / Q000276:immunology*; D019337:Hematologic Neoplasms / Q000097:blood / Q000276:immunology* / Q000628:therapy; D006801:Humans; D018655:Lymphocyte Count; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D020127:Recovery of Function; D033581:Stem Cell Transplantation; D050378:T-Lymphocytes, Regulatory / Q000276:immunology*; D013997:Time Factors; D018183:Transplantation Chimera / Q000097:blood / Q000276:immunology; D014184:Transplantation, Homologous
chemical_list: C418974:FOXP3 protein, human; D051858:Forkhead Transcription Factors