Abstract
The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of natural killer (NK) cells on transplant outcomes in patients receiving G-CSF-mobilized PBSC grafts and G-CSF-primed BM grafts from HLA-haploidentical donors. Forty-one haploidentical allogeneic hematopoietic SCT patients were analyzed according to the NK cell concentration in relation to acute GVHD (aGVHD), chronic GVHD (cGVHD), TRM and leukemia-free survival. The patients receiving a higher dose of CD56bright NK cells (>1.9 × 106/kg) showed a higher incidence of grades II–IV aGVHD (hazard risk (HR), 2.872; P=0.022) and cGVHD (HR, 2.884; P=0.039). A higher CD56dim/CD56bri NK cell ratio (>8.0) was correlated with a decreased risk of III–IV aGVHD (HR, 0.290; P=0.065) and TRM (HR, 0.072; P=0.012), thereby increasing the rate of leukemia-free survival (HR, 0.174; P=0.007) after haploidentical transplantation without in vitro T-cell depletion. Our results suggest that a high allograft CD56dim/CD56bright NK cell ratio (>8.0) plays an important role in improving transplant outcomes. A higher dose of CD56bright NK cells might be a predictor for a higher incidence of GVHD.
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Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant no. 30800485), National Outstanding Young Scientist's Foundation of China (Grant no. 30725038), Hi-Tech Research and Development Program of China (no. 2006AA02Z4A0), Program for Innovative Research Team in University (IRT0702) and Beijing Nova program 2008605.
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Zhao, XY., Chang, YJ., Xu, LP. et al. Association of natural killer cells in allografts with transplant outcomes in patients receiving G-CSF-mobilized PBSC grafts and G-CSF-primed BM grafts from HLA-haploidentical donors. Bone Marrow Transplant 44, 721–728 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/bmt.2009.73
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/bmt.2009.73
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