INTRODUCTION For many patients with leukemia only allogeneic bone marrow transplantion provides a chance of cure. Co-transplanted mature donor T cells mediate the desired Graft versus Tumor (GvT) effect required to destroy residual leukemic cells. The donor T cells very often, however, also attack healthy tissue of the patient inducing acute Graft versus Host Disease (aGvHD)-a potentially life-...

Dendritic cells (DC) are antigen-presenting cells involved in induction and regulation of immune responses. We investigated the impact of the number of infused and day 28 dendritic cells on the development of acute and chronic GVHD (aGVHD, cGVHD). Monocytoid (MC) and plasmacytoid (PC) dendritic cells were characterized as lin(-)HLA-DR(+)CD11c(+) and lin(-)HLA-DR(+)CD123(+), respectively. Sixty-...

BACKGROUND After allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, one of the major barriers to clinical management of acute graft-versus-host disease (aGVHD) is a lack of reliable and validated noninvasive tests for diagnosis and prognosis. Proteomic studies have indicated a strong correlation between the level of certain body fluid proteins and clinical outcomes after aGVHD. Specific protei...

engraftment by donor lymphocytes in an immunologically compromised host can result in donor t-cell activation against host major histocompatibility complex antigens, with resultant gvhd. the acute form of gvhd (agvhd) is characterized by erythroderma, cholestatic hepatitis, and enteritis. the intestinal symptoms of agvhd include crampy abdominal pain and watery diarrhea, often with blood. the c...

Acute graft-versus-host disease (aGVHD), the fatal side effects of bone marrow transplantation, was shown to be accompanied by elevation of serum levels of interleukin 18 (IL-18). In this study, the mechanism underlying the accumulation of IL-18 in aGVHD in mice was investigated. Lethally irradiated recipients having transplantation with H-2 disparate donor splenocytes demonstrated aGVHD and co...

We explored the clinical course of acute high-grade gastrointestinal graft-versus-host disease in children in a single center. This was a retrospective analysis of 28 pediatric patients who presented with a clinical diagnosis of stage III and IV acute graft-versus-host disease (aGVHD) of the gastrointestinal system (GIS). Generally, skin involvement was the initial manifestation of aGVHD that b...

Acute graft-versus-host disease (aGVHD) is the most common complication for patients undergoing allogeneic stem cell transplantation. Despite extremely aggressive therapy targeting donor T cells, patients with grade III or greater aGVHD of the lower GI tract, who do not respond to therapy with corticosteroids, have a dismal prognosis. Thus, efforts to improve understanding of the function of lo...

CD4+CD25+ regulatory T (Treg) cells are potent modulators of alloimmune responses. In murine models of allogeneic bone marrow transplantation, adoptive transfer of donor CD4+CD25+ Treg cells protects recipient mice from lethal acute graft-versus-host disease (aGVHD) induced by donor CD4+CD25- T cells. Here we examined the differential effect of CD62L+ and CD62L- subsets of CD4+CD25+ Treg cells ...

Long-term T-cell reconstitution after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) is dependent on patient thymic function and affected by graft-versus-host disease (GVHD). To assess the impact of acute GVHD (aGVHD) on thymic function, we followed a cohort of 93 patients who received HSCT from a human histocompatibility leukocyte antigen-identical sibling, mainly for hematologic malignancies....

Background: Allogenic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) is a strategy used for treatment of different malignant diseases. However, success of allo-HSCT can be hampered by graft-versus-host-disease (GVHD). Natural killer (NK) cells may play an important role in activating antigen presenting cells and subsequent activation of T cells. The main purpose of this study was the evaluation...