title: Immune cell subset counts associated with graft-versus-host disease.
abstract: Graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) is a major transplantation complication. The purpose of this study was to measure immune cell subsets by flow cytometry early after transplantation (before median day of GVHD onset) to identify subsets that may play a role in GVHD pathogenesis. We also measured the subsets later after transplantation to determine which subsets may be influenced by GVHD or its treatment. We studied 219 patients. We found that acute GVHD (aGVHD) was preceded by high counts of CD4 T cells and CD8 T cells. It was followed by low counts of total and naive B cells, total and cytolytic NK cells, and myeloid and plasmacytoid dendritic cells. Chronic GVHD (cGVHD) was preceded by low counts of memory B cells. In conclusion, both CD4 and CD8 T cells appear to play a role in the pathogenesis of aGVHD. Generation of B cells, NK cells, and dendritic cells may be hampered by aGVHD and/or its treatment. Memory B cells may inhibit the development of cGVHD.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Electronic address: pjpodgor@ucalgary.ca.
authors.forename: Peter J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Podgorny
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
authors.forename: Yiping
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
authors.forename: Poonam
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Dharmani-Khan
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
authors.forename: Laura M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Pratt
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
authors.forename: Kareem
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Jamani
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
authors.forename: Joanne
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Luider
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
authors.forename: Iwona
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Auer-Grzesiak
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
authors.forename: Adnan
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mansoor
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
authors.forename: Tyler S
authors.initials: TS
authors.lastname: Williamson
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
authors.forename: Alejandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ugarte-Torres
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
authors.forename: Mette
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hoegh-Petersen
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
authors.forename: Douglas A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Stewart
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
authors.forename: Andrew
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Daly
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
authors.forename: Faisal M
authors.initials: FM
authors.lastname: Khan
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
authors.forename: James A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Russell
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
authors.forename: Jan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Storek
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D015496:CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology*; D018414:CD8-Positive T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology*; D003713:Dendritic Cells / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D006086:Graft vs Host Disease / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology* / Q000628:therapy; D019337:Hematologic Neoplasms / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy*; D018380:Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation; D006801:Humans; D007156:Immunologic Memory; D016130:Immunophenotyping; D007694:Killer Cells, Natural / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology; D018655:Lymphocyte Count; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016176:T-Lymphocyte Subsets / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology; D014184:Transplantation, Homologous
keywords: B lymphocytes; Dendritic cells; Graft-versus-host disease; Hematopoietic cell transplantation; NK cells; T lymphocytes