Abstract
Cytomegalovirus (CMV) reactivation in cord blood transplantation (CBT) may result in the proliferation and maturation of natural killer (NK) cells. Similarly, a mismatch of the killer cell immunoglobulin-like receptor (KIR)-ligand induces NK cell activation. Therefore, if CMV reactivation occurs in the presence of KIR-ligand mismatch, it might improve CBT outcomes. We assessed the difference in the effect of CMV reactivation in the presence of KIR-ligand mismatch on disease relapse in the graft-versus-host direction. A total of 2840 patients with acute myeloid leukemia, acute lymphoblastic leukemia, myelodysplastic syndrome, and chronic myeloid leukemia were analyzed. Among those with a HLA-Bw4/A3/A11 (KIR3DL-ligand) mismatch, CMV reactivation up to 100 days following CBT had a favorable impact on relapse (18.9% vs. 32.9%, P = 0.0149). However, this effect was not observed in cases without the KIR3DL-ligand mismatch or in those with or without a HLA-C1/C2 (KIR2DL-ligand) mismatch. The multivariate analysis suggested that CMV reactivation had a favorable effect on relapse only in cases with a KIR3DL-ligand mismatch (hazard ratio 0.54, P = 0.032). Moreover, the interaction effect between CMV reactivation and KIR3DL-ligand mismatch on relapse was significant (P = 0.039). Thus, our study reveals the association between KIR-ligand mismatches and CMV reactivation, which will enhance CBT outcomes.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 12 print issues and online access
$259.00 per year
only $21.58 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Elmaagacli AH, Steckel NK, Koldehoff M, Hegerfeldt Y, Trenschel R, Ditschkowski M, et al. Early human cytomegalovirus replication after transplantation is associated with a decreased relapse risk: evidence for a putative virus-versus-leukemia effect in acute myeloid leukemia patients. Blood. 2011;118:1402–12.
Green ML, Leisenring WM, Xie H, Walter RB, Mielcarek M, Sandmaier BM, et al. CMV reactivation after allogeneic HCT and relapse risk: evidence for early protection in acute myeloid leukemia. Blood. 2013;122:1316–24.
Ramanathan M, Teira P, Battiwalla M, Barrett J, Ahn KW, Chen M, et al. Impact of early CMV reactivation in cord blood stem cell recipients in the current era. Bone Marrow Transpl. 2016;51:1113–20.
Teira P, Battiwalla M, Ramanathan M, Barrett AJ, Ahn KW, Chen M, et al. Early cytomegalovirus reactivation remains associated with increased transplant-related mortality in the current era: a CIBMTR analysis. Blood. 2016;127:2427–38.
Takenaka K, Nishida T, Asano-Mori Y, Oshima K, Ohashi K, Mori T, et al. Cytomegalovirus reactivation after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation is associated with a reduced risk of relapse in patients with acute myeloid leukemia who survived to day 100 after transplantation: the Japan Society for Hematopoietic C. Biol Blood Marrow Transpl. 2015;21:2008–16.
Yokoyama H, Takenaka K, Nishida T, Seo S, Shinohara A, Uchida N, et al. Favorable effect of cytomegalovirus reactivation on outcomes in cord blood transplant and its differences among disease risk or type. Biol Blood Marrow Transpl. 2020;26:1363–70.
Fletcher JM, Prentice HG, Grundy JE. Natural killer cell lysis of cytomegalovirus (CMV)-infected cells correlates with virally induced changes in cell surface lymphocyte function-associated antigen-3 (LFA-3) expression and not with the CMV-induced down-regulation of cell surface class I HLA. J Immunol. 1998;161:2365–74.
Foley B, Cooley S, Verneris MR, Pitt M, Curtsinger J, Luo X, et al. Cytomegalovirus reactivation after allogeneic transplantation promotes a lasting increase in educated NKG2C+ natural killer cells with potent function. Blood. 2012;119:2665–74.
Scheper W, van Dorp S, Kersting S, Pietersma F, Lindemans C, Hol S, et al. T cells elicited by CMV reactivation after allo-SCT cross-recognize CMV and leukemia. Leukemia. 2013;27:1328–38.
Varanasi PR, Ogonek J, Luther S, Dammann E, Stadler M, Ganser A, et al. Cytomegalovirus-specific CD8+ T-cells are associated with a reduced incidence of early relapse after allogeneic stem cell transplantation. PLoS One. 2019;14:e0213739.
Cichocki F, Cooley S, Davis Z, DeFor TE, Schlums H, Zhang B, et al. CD56dimCD57+NKG2C+ NK cell expansion is associated with reduced leukemia relapse after reduced intensity HCT. Leukemia. 2016;30:456–63.
Pical-Izard C, Crocchiolo R, Granjeaud S, Kochbati E, Just-Landi S, Chabannon C, et al. Reconstitution of natural killer cells in HLA-matched HSCT after reduced-intensity conditioning: impact on clinical outcome. Biol Blood Marrow Transpl. 2015;21:429–39.
Rashidi A, Luo X, Cooley S, Anasetti C, Waller EK, Brunstein CG, et al. The association of CMV with NK-cell reconstitution depends on graft source: results from BMT CTN-0201 samples. Blood Adv. 2019;3:2465–9.
Leung W. Use of NK cell activity in cure by transplant. Br J Haematol. 2011;155:14–29.
Ruggeri L, Capanni M, Casucci M, Volpi I, Tosti A, Perruccio K, et al. Role of natural killer cell alloreactivity in HLA-mismatched hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Blood. 1999;94:333–9.
Giebel S, Locatelli F, Lamparelli T, Velardi A, Davies S, Frumento G, et al. Survival advantage with KIR ligand incompatibility in hematopoietic stem cell transplantation from unrelated donors. Blood. 2003;102:814–9.
Morishima Y, Yabe T, Matsuo K, Kashiwase K, Inoko H, Saji H, et al. Effects of HLA allele and killer immunoglobulin-like receptor ligand matching on clinical outcome in leukemia patients undergoing transplantation with T-cell-replete marrow from an unrelated donor. Biol Blood Marrow Transpl. 2007;13:315–28.
Yabe T, Matsuo K, Hirayasu K, Kashiwase K, Kawamura-Ishii S, Tanaka H, et al. Donor killer immunoglobulin-like receptor (KIR) genotype-patient cognate KIR ligand combination and antithymocyte globulin preadministration are critical factors in outcome of HLA-C-KIR ligand-mismatched T cell-replete unrelated bone marrow transplantatio. Biol Blood Marrow Transpl. 2008;14:75–87.
Willemze R, Rodrigues CA, Labopin M, Sanz G, Michel G, Socié G, et al. KIR-ligand incompatibility in the graft-versus-host direction improves outcomes after umbilical cord blood transplantation for acute leukemia. Leukemia. 2009;23:492–500.
Brunstein CG, Wagner JE, Weisdorf DJ, Cooley S, Noreen H, Barker JN, et al. Negative effect of KIR alloreactivity in recipients of umbilical cord blood transplant depends on transplantation conditioning intensity. Blood. 2009;113:5628–34.
Tanaka J, Morishima Y, Takahashi Y, Yabe T, Oba K, Takahashi S, et al. Effects of KIR ligand incompatibility on clinical outcomes of umbilical cord blood transplantation without ATG for acute leukemia in complete remission. Blood Cancer J. 2013;3:e164.
Rocha V, Ruggeri A, Spellman S, Wang T, Sobecks R, Locatelli F, et al. Killer cell immunoglobulin-like receptor-ligand matching and outcomes after unrelated cord blood transplantation in acute myeloid leukemia. Biol Blood Marrow Transpl. 2016;22:1284–9.
Komanduri KV, St John LS, de Lima M, McMannis J, Rosinski S, McNiece I, et al. Delayed immune reconstitution after cord blood transplantation is characterized by impaired thymopoiesis and late memory T-cell skewing. Blood. 2007;110:4543–51.
Jacobson CA, Turki AT, McDonough SM, Stevenson KE, Kim HT, Kao G, et al. Immune reconstitution after double umbilical cord blood stem cell transplantation: comparison with unrelated peripheral blood stem cell transplantation. Biol Blood Marrow Transpl. 2012;18:565–74.
de Witte MA, Sarhan D, Davis Z, Felices M, Vallera DA, Hinderlie P, et al. Early Reconstitution of NK and γδ T Cells and Its Implication for the Design of Post-Transplant Immunotherapy. Biol Blood Marrow Transpl. 2018;24:1152–62.
Atsuta Y, Suzuki R, Yoshimi A, Gondo H, Tanaka J, Hiraoka A, et al. Unification of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation registries in Japan and establishment of the TRUMP System. Int J Hematol. 2007;86:269–74.
Atsuta Y. Introduction of transplant registry unified management program 2 (TRUMP2): scripts for TRUMP data analyses, part I (variables other than HLA-related data). Int J Hematol. 2016;103:3–10.
Kanda J. Scripts for TRUMP data analyses. Part II (HLA-related data): statistical analyses specific for hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Int J Hematol. 2016;103:11–9.
Mori T, Okamoto S, Watanabe R, Yajima T, Iwao Y, Yamazaki R, et al. Dose-adjusted pre-emptive therapy for cytomegalovirus disease based on real-time polymerase chain reaction after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Bone Marrow Transpl. 2002;29:777–82.
Kanda Y, Mineishi S, Saito T, Seo S, Saito A, Suenaga K, et al. Pre-emptive therapy against cytomegalovirus (CMV) disease guided by CMV antigenemia assay after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation: a single-center experience in Japan. Bone Marrow Transpl. 2001;27:437–44.
Bacigalupo A, Ballen K, Rizzo D, Giralt S, Lazarus H, Ho V, et al. Defining the intensity of conditioning regimens: working definitions. Biol Blood Marrow Transpl. 2009;15:1628–33.
Kanda Y. Investigation of the freely available easy-to-use software ‘EZR’ for medical statistics. Bone Marrow Transpl. 2013;48:452–8.
Mehta RS, Rezvani K. Can we make a better match or mismatch with KIR genotyping? Hematol Am Soc Hematol Educ Progr. 2016;2016:106–18.
Yokoyama H, Kanda J, Kato S, Kondo E, Maeda Y, Saji H, et al. Effects of HLA mismatch on cytomegalovirus reactivation in cord blood transplantation. Bone Marrow Transpl. 2019;54:1004–12.
Li L, Chen H, Marin D, Xi Y, Miao Q, Lv J, et al. A novel immature natural killer cell subpopulation predicts relapse after cord blood transplantation. Blood Adv. 2019;3:4117–30.
Elmaagacli AH, Koldehoff M. Cytomegalovirus replication reduces the relapse incidence in patients with acute myeloid leukemia. Blood. 2016;128:456–9.
Béziat V, Liu LL, Malmberg J-A, Ivarsson MA, Sohlberg E, Björklund AT, et al. NK cell responses to cytomegalovirus infection lead to stable imprints in the human KIR repertoire and involve activating KIRs. Blood. 2013;121:2678–88.
Nakamura R, Gendzekhadze K, Palmer J, Tsai N-C, Mokhtari S, Forman SJ, et al. Influence of donor KIR genotypes on reduced relapse risk in acute myelogenous leukemia after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation in patients with CMV reactivation. Leuk Res. 2019;87:106230.
Stewart CA, Laugier-Anfossi F, Vély F, Saulquin X, Riedmuller J, Tisserant A, et al. Recognition of peptide-MHC class I complexes by activating killer immunoglobulin-like receptors. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 2005;102:13224–9.
Chewning JH, Gudme CN, Hsu KC, Selvakumar A, Dupont B. KIR2DS1-positive NK cells mediate alloresponse against the C2 HLA-KIR ligand group in vitro. J Immunol. 2007;179:854–68.
Pittari G, Liu X-R, Selvakumar A, Zhao Z, Merino E, Huse M, et al. NK cell tolerance of self-specific activating receptor KIR2DS1 in individuals with cognate HLA-C2 ligand. J Immunol. 2013;190:4650–60.
Garcia-Beltran WF, Hölzemer A, Martrus G, Chung AW, Pacheco Y, Simoneau CR, et al. Open conformers of HLA-F are high-affinity ligands of the activating NK-cell receptor KIR3DS1. Nat Immunol. 2016;17:1067–74.
Burian A, Wang KL, Finton KAK, Lee N, Ishitani A, Strong RK, et al. HLA-F and MHC-I open conformers bind natural killer cell Ig-like receptor KIR3DS1. PLoS One. 2016;11:e0163297.
Giebel S, Dziaczkowska J, Czerw T, Wojnar J, Krawczyk-Kulis M, Nowak I, et al. Sequential recovery of NK cell receptor repertoire after allogeneic hematopoietic SCT. Bone Marrow Transpl. 2010;45:1022–30.
Nguyen S, Achour A, Souchet L, Vigouroux S, Chevallier P, Furst S, et al. Clinical impact of NK-cell reconstitution after reduced intensity conditioned unrelated cord blood transplantation in patients with acute myeloid leukemia: analysis of a prospective phase II multicenter trial on behalf of the Société Française de Greffe d. Bone Marrow Transpl. 2017;52:1428–35.
Yoon J-H, Lee S, Kim H-J, Jeon Y-W, Lee S-E, Cho B-S, et al. Impact of cytomegalovirus reactivation on relapse and survival in patients with acute leukemia who received allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation in first remission. Oncotarget. 2016;7:17230–41.
Kanda Y, Yamashita T, Mori T, Ito T, Tajika K, Mori S, et al. A randomized controlled trial of plasma real-time PCR and antigenemia assay for monitoring CMV infection after unrelated BMT. Bone Marrow Transpl. 2010;45:1325–32.
Gumperz JE, Valiante NM, Parham P, Lanier LL, Tyan D. Heterogeneous phenotypes of expression of the NKB1 natural killer cell class I receptor among individuals of different human histocompatibility leukocyte antigens types appear genetically regulated, but not linked to major histocompatibililty complex hapl. J Exp Med. 1996;183:1817–27.
Gardiner CM, Guethlein LA, Shilling HG, Pando M, Carr WH, Rajalingam R, et al. Different NK cell surface phenotypes defined by the DX9 antibody are due to KIR3DL1 gene polymorphism. J Immunol. 2001;166:2992–3001.
Boudreau JE, Mulrooney TJ, Le Luduec J-B, Barker E, Hsu KC. KIR3DL1 and HLA-B Density and Binding Calibrate NK Education and Response to HIV. J Immunol. 2016;196:3398–410.
Boudreau JE, Giglio F, Gooley TA, Stevenson PA, Le Luduec J-B, Shaffer BC, et al. KIR3DL1/HLA-B subtypes govern acute myelogenous leukemia relapse after hematopoietic cell transplantation. J Clin Oncol. 2017;35:2268–78.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank all the physicians and data managers who delivered valuable data to the Japan Society for Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation (JSHCT). The authors would also like to thank the staff at the Data Center, JSHCT for their contributions.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Additional information
Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Supplementary information
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Yokoyama, H., Kanda, J., Kawahara, Y. et al. Reduced leukemia relapse through cytomegalovirus reactivation in killer cell immunoglobulin-like receptor-ligand-mismatched cord blood transplantation. Bone Marrow Transplant 56, 1352–1363 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41409-020-01203-8
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41409-020-01203-8
This article is cited by
-
A higher CD34 + cell dose correlates with better event-free survival after KIR-ligand mismatched cord blood transplantation for childhood acute myeloid leukemia
Journal of Hematology & Oncology (2024)
-
Coexistence of HLA and KIR ligand mismatches as a risk factor for viral infection early after cord blood transplantation
Bone Marrow Transplantation (2022)
-
Improved outcomes of single-unit cord blood transplantation for acute myeloid leukemia by killer immunoglobulin-like receptor 2DL1-ligand mismatch
Bone Marrow Transplantation (2022)
-
Altered effect of killer immunoglobulin-like receptor–ligand mismatch by graft versus host disease prophylaxis in cord blood transplantation
Bone Marrow Transplantation (2021)