Predicting the severity of graft-versus-host disease from interleukin-10 levels after bone marrow transplantation

Acute graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) is the most important complication o f allogeneic bone marrow transplantation. We investigated the possibility o f predicting severe acute GVHD using plasma interleukin-10 levels in 31 pat ients who underwent allogeneic bone marrow transplantation. In patients wit h acute GVHD, the interleukin-10 (IL-10) level increased significantly from the aplastic phase through the leukocyte recovery phase after transplantat ion (P < 0.05, paired t-test). The ratio of the IL-IO level in the aplastic phase to that in the leukocyte recovery phase was significantly correlated with the severity of acute GVHD (P < 0.05, t-test), and the incidence of g rade III or IV disease was significantly increased (P < 0.0001). Since IL-1 0 antagonizes various other cytokines that induce acute GVHD, determination of the IL-10 level is equivalent to assessing the total production of cyto kines promoting GVHD. The ratio of the IL-10 level in the aplastic phase to that in the recovery phase seems to be useful for predicting the subsequen t risk of acute GVHD.