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Allografting

The impact of morphological and immunohistological changes in minor salivary glands on the health of the oral cavity in HSCT patients

Bone Marrow Transplantation volume 48, pages 1525–1529 (2013)Cite this article

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Abstract

The objective of this study was to test the relationship between histological changes in minor salivary glands (MSG) and chronic GVHD (cGVHD) severity and OS of hematopoietic SCT (HSCT) patients, and to discriminate the participation of events preceding HSCT that damage MSG, from those linked to cGVHD. The MSG of 57 HSCT patients who were divided into two groups—oral cGVHD (36 cases) and non-cGVHD (21 cases)—were compared with the MSG of a control group of 19 non-HSCT individuals. cGVHD changes were assessed according to National Institutes of Health (NIH) consensus and the systems of Horn et al. Acinar areas and mononuclear cell subsets were set through morphometry. Horn’s ‘periductal lymphocytic infiltrate’ correlated with an extensive form of cGVHD and NIH ‘periductal lymphocytes with exocytosis into duct’ correlated with global survival. Measurements of the acinar area differed between the three groups, being the lowest in cGVHD patients, but also reduced in non-cGVHD patients. Significant differences among CD45, CD45RO, CD4 and CD8 immunomarked cells/mm2 were found by comparing the two groups of HSCT patients. In brief, periductal lymphocytic infiltrate and exocytosis implies inflammatory activity and, consequently, might reflect the cGVHD status and influence survival. Acini loss in non-cGVHD patients may be due to pre-transplant events, but massive lymphocyte infiltrate is part of the cGVHD process.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Mr Adilson Abilio Piaza for his help in taking photomicrographs. This paper was supported by the Coordination for Higher Level Graduates Improvement (CAPES) and São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP), INCTs.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Oral Diagnosis, Oral Pathology Section, Piracicaba Dental School, University of Campinas (UNICAMP), Piracicaba, São Paulo, Brazil

    T C B Soares

  2. Hematology and Blood Transfusion Center—University of Campinas/Hemocentro-Unicamp, INCTS—Instituto Nacional de Ciência e Tecnologia do Sangue, Campinas, Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil

    M E P Correa & E C M Miranda

  3. Pathology Department, Faculty of Medical Sciences—University of Campinas (UNICAMP), Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil

    G F Cintra & M L Cintra

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  1. T C B Soares
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Correspondence to M L Cintra.

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Soares, T., Correa, M., Cintra, G. et al. The impact of morphological and immunohistological changes in minor salivary glands on the health of the oral cavity in HSCT patients. Bone Marrow Transplant 48, 1525–1529 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/bmt.2013.105

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