title: Modulation of lymphocyte subpopulations by extracorporeal photopheresis in patients with acute graft-versus-host disease or graft rejection.
abstract: Extracorporeal photopheresis (ECP) constitutes a promising treatment for patients with steroid-refractory acute graft-versus-host disease (aGvHD) after allogeneic stem cell transplantation and for patients with graft rejection after solid organ transplantation (SOT). There is an increasing body of evidence that modulation of lymphocyte subsets might play a crucial role in the mechanism of action in ECP. We therefore analyzed immunological effects concomitantly with clinical findings in patients under ECP therapy using multicolor flow cytometry. In a patient with steroid-refractory aGvHD and a patient with progressive bronchiolitis obliterans syndrome (BOS) after double-lung transplantation, clinical responses to ECP therapy were paralleled by an increase of CD4 + CD25hiFoxP3 + regulatory T cells and a decrease of T(EMRA) (CD3 + CD8+ CD45RA+ CD62L+ effector memory T) cells as well as of natural killer (NK)T cells. In summary, immunomonitoring of T cell subsets can elucidate the mechanism of action in ECP.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine V, University Clinic Heidelberg , Heidelberg , Germany.
authors.forename: Katrin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Lorenz
authors.forename: Katharina
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Rommel
authors.forename: Jiju
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Mani
authors.forename: Nan
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Jin
authors.forename: Inken
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Hilgendorf
authors.forename: Anthony D
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Ho
authors.forename: Mathias
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Freund
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Schmitt
authors.forename: Anita
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Schmitt
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D015704:CD4 Antigens / Q000276:immunology; D016827:CD8 Antigens / Q000276:immunology; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D006084:Graft Rejection / Q000276:immunology / Q000628:therapy*; D006086:Graft vs Host Disease / Q000209:etiology / Q000276:immunology / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans; D007694:Killer Cells, Natural / Q000276:immunology; D008297:Male; D017893:Photopheresis; D010865:Pilot Projects; D033581:Stem Cell Transplantation / Q000009:adverse effects; D016176:T-Lymphocyte Subsets / Q000276:immunology*; D014184:Transplantation, Homologous
chemical_list: D015704:CD4 Antigens; D016827:CD8 Antigens
keywords: Extracorporeal photopheresis (ECP); GvHD; NK cells; effector T cells; regulatory T cells; solid organ rejection (SOT)