Ninety-five patients undergoing an allogeneic bone marrow transplant (BMT) and developing acute graft-versus-host disease (aGvHD) were randomized to receive low-dose intravenous 6-methylprednisolone (6MPred; 2 mg/kg /d; n = 47) or high-dose 6MPred (10 mg/kg/d; n = 48) for 5 days, with subsequent tapering doses. On day 5 patients not responding or progressing on low-dose 6MPred could be switched...

Allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT) is the most effective tumor immunotherapy available. Although allo-HSCT provides beneficial graft-versus-tumor effects, acute GVHD (aGVHD) is the primary source of morbidity and mortality after HSCT. Diagnosis of aGVHD is typically based on clinical symptoms in one or more of the main target organs (skin, liver, gastrointestinal tra...

In a multicenter pilot study, 19 patients with severe acute graft-versus-host disease (aGVHD) refractory to conventional therapy and serotherapy with a monoclonal anti-interleukin-2 receptor antibody were treated by in vivo infusion of a monoclonal anti-tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF alpha) antibody (B-C7). Ten patients were grafted from a genotypically identical sibling, five from an HLA-mis...

Allogeneic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT) is one of the curative treatments for hematologic malignancies, but is hampered by severe complications, such as acute or chronic graft-versus-host-disease (aGvHD; cGvHD) and infections. CD34-selection of stem cells reduces the risk of aGvHD, but also leads to increased infectious complications and relapse. Thus, we studied the safety, efficacy, ...

Abstract Background & Purpose: Gut acute graft-versus-host disease (aGVHD) is a serious complication after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT) and associated with high mortality. Mucosal-associated invariant T cells (MAITs) are group of innate-like enriched in the intestine that can be activated by riboflavin metabolites from various microorganisms. However, littl...

Selective depletion (SD) of host-reactive donor T cells from allogeneic stem-cell transplants (SCTs) using an anti-CD25 immunotoxin (IT) is a strategy to prevent acute graft-versus-host disease (aGvHD). There is concern that concurrent removal of regulatory T cells (T(regs)) with incomplete removal of alloactivated CD25(+) T cells could increase the risk of aGvHD. We therefore measured T(regs) ...

Acute graft-versus-host disease (aGVHD) is associated with high risk of morbidity and mortality and is a common complication after double umbilical cord blood (UCB) transplantation. To reduce these risks, we established a method of CD4(+)CD25(+)FoxP3(+) T regulatory cell (Treg) enrichment from cryopreserved UCB followed by a 18 (+) 1-day expansion culture including anti-CD3/anti-CD28 antibody-c...

Background. Acute graft-versus-host disease (aGVHD) involving skin is one of the most frequent complications of allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (alloHSCT), usually diagnosed based on clinical manifestations. So far, skin biopsy with histopathological evaluation is the only method to confirm the diagnosis. Objective. In this prospective study we monitored alloHSCT recipients b...

Acute graft-versus-host disease (aGVHD) remains a serious complication following allogeneic stem-cell transplantation (SCT), and is mediated by infiltration of alloreactive donor T cells into recipient tissue. Chemokines and their receptors play a central role in controlling the recruitment of T cells into discrete tissue sites, and determine the clinical features of GVHD in murine models. In t...

Dendritic cells (DCs) are key antigen-presenting cells with a potential role in tumor vaccines. We investigated the hypothesis that early reconstitution of DCs after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (SCT) improves survival. We also correlated DC reconstitution with complications of relapse and acute graft-versus-host disease (aGVHD). Fifty patients underwent transplantation be...