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Immune Recovery

Reconstitution of lymphocyte subpopulations after paediatric bone marrow transplantation

Bone Marrow Transplantation volume 25, pages 267–275 (2000)Cite this article

Abstract

We prospectively studied the reconstitution of lymphocyte subpopulations in a group of 22 children, who survived disease-free at least 6 months after allogeneic BMT for a haematological malignancy. Absolute counts of total lymphocytes, B lymphocytes, T lymphocytes, and CD4+ helper T lymphocytes reached the 5th percentile (p5) of age-matched reference values within 6 months after BMT in 15, 17, 7 and 2 patients, respectively. In particular, CD4+ helper T lymphocyte reconstitution was very slow. Unexpectedly, CMV reactivation had a profound positive influence upon the number of CD4+ helper T lymphocytes in the children. In five patients, absolute B lymphocyte counts above the 95th percentile were reached from 6 months after BMT onwards, mimicking normal ontogeny. Unlike normal ontogeny, the percentages of helper T lymphocytes expressing the ‘naive’ CD45RA isoform were low and those expressing the ‘memory’ CD45RO isoform were high in the first 3 months after BMT, as described before. Thereafter, the CD45RA:CD45RO ratio slowly normalised. Also, CD7 expression was absent on up to 90% of T lymphocytes in the first months after BMT, and on a steadily decreasing percentage thereafter, as recently described in adults. However, the absolute counts of CD45RO+/CD4+ and CD7−/CD4+ helper T lymphocytes did not change significantly. So, we found no evidence of peripheral expansion of previously primed donor-derived ‘memory’ T lymphocytes during the follow-up period which spanned 1–18 months after BMT. The absolute counts of ‘naive’ CD45RA+ helper T lymphocytes did not show a faster increase after BMT than in adults, despite the presumed presence of a non-involuted thymus in children. Bone Marrow Transplantation (2000) 25, 267–275.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dept of Paediatrics, Leiden University Medical Centre, Leiden, The Netherlands

    E de Vries, MJD van Tol, RLanglois van den Bergh, JLM Waaijer, MMten Dam & JM Vossen

  2. Dept of Immunology, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

    E de Vries

  3. Dept of Medical Statistics, Leiden University Medical Centre, Leiden, The Netherlands

    J Hermans

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  1. E de Vries
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de Vries, E., van Tol, M., van den Bergh, R. et al. Reconstitution of lymphocyte subpopulations after paediatric bone marrow transplantation. Bone Marrow Transplant 25, 267–275 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.bmt.1702141

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