Publication Date:
2016-12-02
Description:
Background:Allogeneic Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation (HSCT) is the only cure for high-risk acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Unfortunately, relapse still remains the major cause of death after HSCT. We investigated if T-cell dysfunction is associated to post-transplant relapse. Patients and Methods: To this,we longitudinally analyzed the T-cell dynamics in bone marrow (BM) and peripheral blood (PB) of 32 AML patients receiving HSCT from HLA identical (HLAid, 20 pts) or HLA haploidentical (haplo, 12 pts) donors. Samples were analysed by multi-parametric flow cytometry to investigate the expression of inhibitory receptors (IRs) on CD4 and CD8 T-cell subsets defined by CD45RA, CD62L and CD95 expression, and to assess the proportion of regulatory T cells (Tregs; CD4+CD25+FoxP3+). Results were also analyzed with the BH-SNE algorithm, an unbiased computational method for the analysis of FACS data. To evaluate T-cell effector functions, the CD107a degranulation assay was performed and the production of cytokines (IL-2, IFNg and TNFa) was measured by intracellular staining. BM and PB were collected 60 days after HSCT and at relapse (median 237 days; 16 pts) or, when complete remission was maintained (CR; 16 pts), at 1 year. Samples from 8 healthy donors (HD) were used as controls. Results:After transplant, BM and PB T cells showed a lower CD4/CD8 ratio (p
Print ISSN:
0006-4971
Electronic ISSN:
1528-0020
Topics:
Biology
,
Medicine
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