title: IL-21 is critical for GVHD in a mouse model.
abstract: Immunological effects of IL-21 on T, B and natural killer (NK) cells have been reported, but the role of IL-21 in GVHD remains obscure. Here, we demonstrate that morbidity and mortality of GVHD was significantly reduced after BMT with splenocytes from IL-21R(-/-) mice compared with those from wild type mice. To further confirm our observation, we generated a decoy receptor for IL-21. GVHD was again less severe in mice receiving BM cells transduced with the IL-21 decoy receptor than control mice These results suggest that IL-21 critically regulates GVHD, and that blockade of the IL-21 signal may represent a novel strategy for the prophylaxis for GVHD.
authors.affiliation: Division of Hematology, Department of Medicine, Jichi Medical University Tochigi, Tochigi, Japan.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Meguro
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ozaki
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Oh
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hatanaka
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Matsu
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Tatara
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sato
authors.forename: W J
authors.initials: WJ
authors.lastname: Leonard
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ozawa
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D016026:Bone Marrow Transplantation / Q000009:adverse effects*; D016516:CD4-CD8 Ratio; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D006086:Graft vs Host Disease / Q000276:immunology*; D007378:Interleukins / Q000276:immunology*; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D018345:Mice, Knockout; D000098546:Interleukin-21
chemical_list: D007378:Interleukins; D000098546:Interleukin-21