L. Garin et al., ALLOGENIC BMT IN CHILDREN - DIFFERENTIAL LYMPHOCYTE SUBSET RECONSTITUTION ACCORDING TO THE OCCURRENCE OF ACUTE GVHD, Clinical immunology and immunopathology, 77(2), 1995, pp. 139-148
To acquire some biological markers associated with the occurrence of a
cute graft-versus-host disease (aGVHD) after allogeneic bone marrow tr
ansplant (BMT) in children, we have studied the lymphocyte subset reco
nstitution and the percentage of peripheral blood mononuclear cells be
aring HLA-DR and HLA-DQ class II molecules, This study included 37 all
ogeneic BMT: either with (n = 17) or without (n = 20) aGVHD. Within 2
months after transplantation, we observed that patients with aGVHD had
a unique mononuclear cell profile characterized by (i) a significant
increase in the percentages of CD8(bright+)CD28(-) T cells (P = 0.05)
and CD3(+) T cells (P = 0.001), (ii) an important decrease in the perc
entage of CD56(+) cells (P = 0.0001), and (iii) a decrease in the perc
entages of HLA-DQ(+) and HLA-DR(+) monocytes (P = 0.001), and HLA-DQ() T lymphocytes (P = 0.0001), in comparison with patients without aGVH
D. Moreover, statistical studies indicate that there was a positive co
rrelation between CD8(bright)CCD28(-) and CD3(+) T cells, whereas CD3(
+) T cells were negatively correlated to CD56(+) cells. We did not fin
d any statistical correlation between the percentages of HLA-DQ(+) or
HLA-DR(+) cells and the percentages of these lymphocyte subsets, There
fore, in this study done in children, we suggest that patients with (i
) less than 20% of DQ(+) monocytes, (ii) less than 25% of CD56(+) lymp
hocytes, and (iii) an enhanced percentage of CD8(bright)CCD28(-) T cel
ls are strongly associated with aGVHD. Unfortunately, these biological
markers of aCVHD may not precede the clinical manifestations of the d
isease. (C) 1995 Academic Press, Inc.