"predictive significance of serum interleukin-10 for acute graft versus host disease prior to allogeneic bone marrow trasplantation "

interleukin-10 (il-10) is a potent immunosuppressor which inhibits alloantigenic t cell response. il-10 is also an anti-inflammatory endogenous cytokine. to investigate the predictive significance of endogenous il-10 for acute graft versus host disease (gvhd) following allogeneic bone marrow transplantation (bmt), we performed a prospective study on spontaneous il-10 production in the serum of 96 patients admitted for allogeneic bmt. high spontaneous il-10 production at the time of admission and prior to any preparative treatment correlates with a subsequent low incidence of gvhd as compared to patients with low il-10 production. our data demonstrate the predictive significance of increased il-10 production in bmt patients and suggest a role for it in maintaining immunobalance in the setting of allogenic bmt.