CD4+CD25highCD127low regulatory T cells in peripheral blood are not an independent factor for chronic graft-versus-host disease after allogeneic stem cell transplantation.
BACKGROUND
The therapeutic efficacy of allogeneic hemopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) largely relies on the graft-versus-leukemia (GVL) effect. Uncontrolled graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) is a feared complication of HSCT. Regulatory T cells (Treg) are a subset of CD4+ T-helper cells believed to maintain tolerance after HSCT. It remains unclear whether low peripheral blood Treg have an impact on the risk for acute (aGVHD) and chronic GVHD (cGVHD).


METHODS
In this paper we enumerated the CD4+CD25highCD127low Treg in the peripheral blood of 84 patients after at least 150 days from HSCT and in 20 healthy age-matched controls.


RESULTS
Although similar mean lymphocyte counts were found in patients and controls, CD3+CD4+ T-cell counts were significantly lower in patients. Patients also had significantly lower Treg percentages among lymphocytes as compared to controls. Patients with cGVHD had even higher percentages of Treg if compared to patients without cGVHD. In multivariate analysis, Treg percentages were not an independent factor for cGVHD.


CONCLUSIONS
This paper did not show a relation between deficient peripheral blood Treg and cGVHD, therefore cGVHD does not seem to occur as a result of peripheral Treg paucity.
Department of Internal Medicine-Hematology, Oncology and Rheumatology, University Hospital Heidelberg, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany. jolanta@tjdengler.info
Jolanta B
JB
Perz
Selma
S
Gürel
Stefan O
SO
Schonland
Ute
U
Hegenbart
Anthony D
AD
Ho
Peter
P
Dreger
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D015703:Antigens, CD / Q000097:blood*; D002908:Chronic Disease; D005260:Female; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D006086:Graft vs Host Disease / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D033581:Stem Cell Transplantation; D050378:T-Lymphocytes, Regulatory / Q000276:immunology*
D015703:Antigens, CD