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Pre-existing immune checkpoints activation predicts relapse after allogeneic stem cell transplantation in lymphoma

Bone Marrow Transplantation volume 56, pages 2280–2283 (2021)Cite this article

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To the Editor:

Activation of immune checkpoints is one of the most important mechanisms of escape from immune surveillance in cancer, leading to abnormal activation of T-cell inhibitory pathways with failure in immune tumor control [1]. In particular, the Programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1)-Programmed death 1 (PD1) checkpoint and the Leukocyte activation gene-3 (LAG-3)-Major Histocompatibility Complex class II axis cooperate in immune evasion and, together with costimulatory molecules such as CD27, are now exploited as therapeutic targets in lymphoma [2, 3].

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Fig. 1: Impact of pre-existing activation of immune-checkpoints on relapse incidence after allo-SCT in lymphoma.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by Banca del Piemonte (Torino, Italy) and Piaggio S.p.A. (Pontedera, Italy).

Funding

Banca del Piemonte Research Grant to C.T., Piaggio SpA grant to C.T. and AIRC (Italian Association for Cancer Research, Milan, Italy; grant 5×1000 n. 21298) to S.P.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Oncohematology Division, IEO European Institute of Oncology IRCCS, Milan, Italy

    Enrico Derenzini, Simona Sammassimo, Anna Vanazzi, Safaa Ramadan, Rocco Pastano & Corrado Tarella

  2. Department of Health Sciences, University of Milan, Milan, Italy

    Enrico Derenzini & Corrado Tarella

  3. Haemolymphopathology Division, IEO European Institute of Oncology IRCCS, Milan, Italy

    Valentina Tabanelli, Saveria Mazzara, Giovanna Motta, Federica Melle, Angelica Calleri, Stefano Fiori & Stefano Pileri

  4. Hematology and Bone marrow Transplant Unit, ASST-Papa Giovanni XXIII, Bergamo, Italy

    Maria Chiara Finazzi, Maria Chiara Barbanti & Alessandro Rambaldi

  5. Molecular and Pharmaco-Epidemiology Unit, Department of Experimental Oncology, IEO European Institute of Oncology IRCCS, Milan, Italy

    Sara Gandini

  6. Department of Oncology and Hemato-Oncology, University of Milan, Milan, Italy

    Alessandro Rambaldi

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  1. Enrico Derenzini
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Contributions

E.D. and C.T. conceived the study and wrote the paper. V.T., S.F., A.C., and S.P. performed the immunohistochemistry and V.T. and S.P. analyzed and reviewed the immunohistochemistry data. F.M. and G.M. performed the targeted gene expression, V.M. performed the bioinformatics analyses, S.G. performed the statistical analyses. S.M., A.V., M.C.F., M.C.B., and S.R. were involved in the data collection, R.P., A.R., together with E.D. and C.T. supervised the analyses and reviewed the paper.

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Correspondence to Enrico Derenzini or Corrado Tarella.

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Derenzini, E., Tabanelli, V., Sammassimo, S. et al. Pre-existing immune checkpoints activation predicts relapse after allogeneic stem cell transplantation in lymphoma. Bone Marrow Transplant 56, 2280–2283 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41409-021-01320-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41409-021-01320-y

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