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Transplant Toxicities

The bone marrow microenvironment is similarly impaired in allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation patients with early and late poor graft function

Abstract

Poor graft function (PGF), including early and late PGF, is a serious complication following allotransplant. We recently reported that bone marrow microenvironment abnormalities may occur in cases of late PGF. Whether these abnormalities occur in early PGF remains unknown. To answer this question, we performed a nested case–control study comparing cellular elements of the bone marrow microenvironment in 10 subjects with early PGF, 30 subjects with late PGF and 40 subjects without PGF. Bone marrow endosteal cells, perivascular cells and endothelial cells were analyzed by flow cytometry and by hematoxylin–eosin and immunohistochemical staining in situ. Subjects with early and late PGF had similar abnormalities in these cell types compared with transplant recipients without PGF. However, none of the aforementioned elements of the bone marrow microenvironment were significantly different between early and late PGF patients. Our data suggest that similar abnormalities in the bone marrow microenvironment may occur in early and late PGF post allotransplant. Cellular approaches, such as the administration of mesenchymal stem cells, promise to be beneficial therapeutic strategies in patients with early or late PGF.

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Acknowledgements

Professor Robert Peter Gale (Imperial College London) kindly reviewed the manuscript. This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant nos 81370638, 81570127, 81530046 and 81230013), the Beijing Municipal Science and Technology Program (grant nos Z151100004015164, Z151100001615020, Z141100000214011), the National High Technology Research Development Program of China (grant no. SS2013AA020104). We thank Professor Qing Ge for helpful discussions and suggestions. The language editing service American Journal Experts (www.americanjournalexperts.com) provided English editorial assistance to the authors during the preparation of this manuscript. We thank all the core facilities at Peking University Institute of Hematology for the sample collection.

Author contributions

X-JH designed the study and supervised the analyses and manuscript preparation. YK performed the research, analyzed and interpreted the data, performed statistical analysis and wrote the manuscript. All the other authors participated in the collection of patients’ data. All the authors agreed to submit the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to X-J Huang.

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Kong, Y., Wang, YT., Hu, Y. et al. The bone marrow microenvironment is similarly impaired in allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation patients with early and late poor graft function. Bone Marrow Transplant 51, 249–255 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/bmt.2015.229

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