Influence of post-transplant mucosal-associated invariant T cell recovery on the development of acute graft-versus-host disease in allogeneic bone marrow transplantation

• Published in: International journal of hematology Vol. 108; no. 1; pp. 66 - 75
• Main Authors: Kawaguchi, Koji, Umeda, Katsutsugu, Hiejima, Eitaro, Iwai, Atsushi, Mikami, Masamitsu, Nodomi, Seishiro, Saida, Satoshi, Kato, Itaru, Hiramatsu, Hidefumi, Yasumi, Takahiro, Nishikomori, Ryuta, Kondo, Tadakazu, Takaori-Kondo, Akifumi, Heike, Toshio, Adachi, Souichi
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Tokyo Springer Japan 01-07-2018; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Bone marrow; Bone marrow transplantation; Graft versus host disease; Graft-versus-host reaction; Group dynamics; Hematology; Hematopoietic stem cells; Invariants; Lymphocytes T; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Mucosa; Natural killer cells; Oncology; Original Article; Patients; Prophylaxis; Recovery; Recovery (Medical); Risk factors; Stem cell transplantation; Subpopulations; Transplantation; Transplants & implants; Graft-versus-host disease; iNKT cells; Recovery; MAIT cells; Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation
• ISSN: 0925-5710; 1865-3774
• DOI: 10.1007/s12185-018-2442-2

Mucosal-associated invariant T (MAIT) and invariant natural killer T (iNKT) cells are T cell subpopulations that possess innate-like properties. We examined the impact of post-hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) MAIT and iNKT cell recovery on the clinical outcomes of 69 patients who underwent allogeneic HSCT at Kyoto University Hospital. Multivariate analyses identified the absolute number of MAIT cells (< 0.48/μL on day 60 post-HSCT) as the sole independent risk factor for grade I–IV and grade II–IV acute graft-versus-host disease (aGVHD) among patients who underwent bone marrow transplantation; no correlation was observed between post-HSCT iNKT cell recovery and the development of aGVHD. Six of the 15 patients in the MAIT
high
(≥ 0.48/μL) group developed aGVHD, five within the first 30 days post HSCT. In contrast, 13 of the 15 patients in the MAIT
low
(< 0.48/μL) group developed aGVHD, seven after day 30 post HSCT. The overall survival of the MAIT
low
group was slightly shorter than that of the MAIT
high
group. Thus, the post-HSCT recovery of MAIT cells is closely related to the development of delayed onset aGVHD and the outcome of post-HSCT, suggesting its utility for identifying a subset of patients that requires more prolonged and/or intense GVHD prophylaxis.