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Graft-Versus-Host Disease

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

Bone Marrow Transplantation volume 36, pages 639–647 (2005)Cite this article

Summary:

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-γ-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.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Professor Seizaburo Arita of Kansai Medical University for the evaluation of statistical analyses. We also thank Miss Tomoko Masuda for her secretarial work and assistance in experiments.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1st Department of Internal Medicine, Kansai Medical University, Moriguchi, Osaka, Japan

    K Nakamura, R Amakawa, M Takebayashi, Y Son, M Miyaji, K Tajima, K Nakai, T Ito, N Matsumoto, K Zen, Y Kishimoto & S Fukuhara

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Correspondence to R Amakawa.

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Nakamura, K., Amakawa, R., Takebayashi, M. et al. IL-4-producing CD8+ T cells may be an immunological hallmark of chronic GVHD. Bone Marrow Transplant 36, 639–647 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.bmt.1705107

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