Evolution of peripheral blood T lymphocyte subsets after allogenic or autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.
With the aim to search for differences in T cell reconstitution after allogenic or autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT), we characterized peripheral blood T-cell subsets by means of flow cytometry, in adult patients who had undergone either allogenic (n=23) or autologous (n=29) HSCT for the treatment of hematological malignancies. The patients were followed every 3 months for 21 months after HSCT. Compared to healthy controls (n=20 blood donors), the two transplanted groups displayed (i) a CD4 lymphopenia, (ii) a low percentage of naive T cells, (iii) high percentages of memory T cells and of activated T cells (HLA-DR+, CD25+) and high percentages of CD4 T cells with a high expression of CD25. The levels of TRECs (TCR rearrangement excision circles) were not significantly different between the two groups. In total, the differences of the nature and the speed of T lymphocyte reconstitution observed between the two patient groups were minor. This leads us to conclude that in allografted patients, lymphocyte activation as well as many other disturbances of subpopulations of peripheral blood lymphocytes are probably not related to the allogenicity of the graft, but are due to the expansion of T cells transfused with HSC and slow differentiation of T lymphocytes in the thymus progressively colonized by bone marrow-derived T-cell precursors.
Laboratoire d'Immunogénétique Moléculaire (EA3034), Université Paul Sabatier, Toulouse 3, France; Laboratoire d'Immunologie, CHU de Toulouse, France.
Bénédicte
B
Puissant-Lubrano
Service d'Hématologie Clinique, CHU de Toulouse, France.
Anne
A
Huynh
Service d'Hématologie Clinique, CHU de Toulouse, France.
Michel
M
Attal
Laboratoire d'Immunogénétique Moléculaire (EA3034), Université Paul Sabatier, Toulouse 3, France; Laboratoire d'Immunologie, CHU de Toulouse, France. Electronic address: blancher.a@chu-toulouse.fr.
Antoine
A
Blancher
D000328:Adult; D001775:Blood Circulation; D015496:CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology* / Q000637:transplantation; D002469:Cell Separation; D005260:Female; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D006086:Graft vs Host Disease / Q000276:immunology*; D019337:Hematologic Neoplasms / Q000276:immunology / Q000628:therapy*; D018380:Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation; D006801:Humans; D007156:Immunologic Memory; D053645:Interleukin-2 Receptor alpha Subunit / Q000378:metabolism; D008213:Lymphocyte Activation; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016176:T-Lymphocyte Subsets / Q000276:immunology* / Q000637:transplantation; D014182:Transplantation, Autologous; D014184:Transplantation, Homologous
D053645:Interleukin-2 Receptor alpha Subunit
Allogenic HSCT; Autologous HSCT; Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation; T lymphocyte reconstitution