Abstract
Dendritic cells (DC) as potent antigen-presenting cells (APC) and T cells as effector cells play an essential role in the pathophysiology of both graft-versus-host (GvH) and graft-versus-leukemia (GvL) reactions after transplantation. Therefore, we determined the kinetics of DC and T-cell chimerism establishment after allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (AHCT) in a group of 144 patients, using fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) or magnetic cell sorting (MACS) followed by FISH or STR-PCR analysis for chimerism evaluation. In all, three cell lines investigated (CD3 + T cells, CD11c + DC1 and CD123 + DC2), we found a rapid and consistent establishment of complete donor chimerism (CDC) in over 70% of all patients during the first 6 weeks after AHCT. The rate of patients with CDC increased significantly over time within the first year after transplantation. A related donor (P = 0.004) as well as an underlying lymphatic leukemia (P = 0.03) were found to be significantly associated with development of MC in T cells. No significant correlation between DC or T cell chimerism and GvHD or relapse was detected. Our results thus demonstrate a fast and stable CDC in DC1, DC2 and T cells after AHCT that continuously increases over time in nearly all patients.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 57-64 |
Number of pages | 8 |
Journal | Bone Marrow Transplantation |
Volume | 37 |
Issue number | 1 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Jan 2006 |
Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- Chimerism
- Dendritic cells
- graft-versus-host disease
- T cells