IL-4-producing CD8|[plus]| T cells may be an immunological hallmark of chronic GVHD

doi:doi:10.1038/sj.bmt.1705107

Bone Marrow Transplantation (2005) 36, 639–647. doi:10.1038/sj.bmt.1705107; published online 25 July 2005

IL-4-producing CD8⁺ T cells may be an immunological hallmark of chronic GVHD

K Nakamura¹, R Amakawa¹, M Takebayashi¹, Y Son¹, M Miyaji¹, K Tajima¹, K Nakai¹, T Ito¹, N Matsumoto¹, K Zen¹, Y Kishimoto¹ and S Fukuhara¹

¹1st Department of Internal Medicine, Kansai Medical University, Moriguchi, Osaka, Japan

Correspondence: Dr R Amakawa, First Department of Internal Medicine, Kansai Medical University, 10-15 Fumizono-cho, Moriguchi, Osaka 570-8506, Japan. E-mail: amakawa@takii.kmu.ac.jp

Received 19 November 2004; Accepted 16 June 2005; Published online 25 July 2005.

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Abstract

Chronic graft-versus-host disease (cGVHD) occurs in approximately 60–80% of those who survive over 100 days after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT). However, the pathophysiology of cGVHD is poorly understood. To gain more insight into the immunological mechanism of cGVHD, we examine cytokine production of peripheral blood T cells from 19 patients in the chronic phase of allo-HSCT. The percentage of IFN--producing CD8⁺ T cells among CD8⁺ T cells was significantly higher in patients with or without cGVHD than in normal control subjects (P<0.001). On the other hand, the percentage of IL-4-producing CD8⁺ T cells among CD8⁺ T cells was significantly higher in patients with cGVHD (mean 3.3%; range 1.3–8.2%) than in patients without cGVHD (mean 1.2%; range 0.8–1.7%) and normal control subjects (mean 1.1%; range 0.1–1.6%) (both P<0.001). By contrast, the percentage of IL-4-producing CD4⁺ T cells was not different among patients with and without cGVHD and normal controls. These findings suggest that IL-4-producing CD8⁺ T cells may be an immunological marker of cGVHD.