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The tear cytokine panel is a useful biomarker for early diagnosis and severity-evaluating of ocular chronic graft-versus-host disease

Bone Marrow Transplantation volume 58, pages 732–734 (2023)Cite this article

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Allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT) is the only curative treatment for hematological malignancies. Chronic graft-versus-host disease (cGVHD) is a common complication, affecting 30–70% of patients after allo-HSCT [1]. Sixty to ninety percent of cGVHD patients suffer from ocular chronic GVHD (ocGVHD), which is characterized by new-onset dry, “gritty”, or painful eyes, cicatricial conjunctivitis, keratoconjunctivitis sicca, and confluent areas of punctate keratopathy, significantly affecting patients’ quality of life [2, 3]. Nevertheless, the clinical diagnosis of ocGVHD relies heavily on observing symptoms and clinical signs [4]. Treatment is typically initiated during the symptomatic stage, by which time the damage to the ocular tissues may be irreversible. Consequently, it is crucial to investigate methods of early diagnosis for early intervention.

Various studies have previously identified tear cytokines as objective biomarkers with diagnostic, prognostic, and monitoring potential for ocGVHD, but they did not investigate the association between elevated chemokines and ocular surface parameters [5,6,7]. In order to address this issue, we enrolled and assessed dynamics of tear cytokines level and the incidence and severity of ocGVHD in 26 patients diagnosed with ocGVHD and 27 patients without ocGVHD (the control group) who underwent allo-HSCT at Xinqiao Hospital in Chongqing. This study was approved by the Army Medical University Xinqiao Hospital Medical Science Research Ethics Committee and performed in accordance with the tenets of the Declaration of Helsinki (ChiCTR2200062516). Written informed consent was obtained from all the subjects after the nature and possible consequences of the study were explained.

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Fig. 1: Concentrations of tear cytokines and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve of representative tear cytokines to predict ocGVHD.

Data availability

The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Key R&D Program of China (2022YFA1103300), the key project of the National Clinical Medical Research Center for Blood System Diseases (2020ZKZC02), the Natural Science Foundation of Chongqing Innovation Group Science Program (cstc2021jcyj-cxttX0001) and the Improvement of Scientific and Technological Innovation Youth Cultivation Special Project of Army Medical University (2021XQN16).

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  1. These authors contributed equally: Xianjing Cheng, Ruihao Huang.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Medicine, Chongqing University, Chongqing, 400030, China

    Xianjing Cheng & Xi Zhang

  2. Medical Center of Hematology, Xinqiao Hospital, State Key Laboratory of Trauma, Burns and Combined Injury, Army Medical University, Chongqing, 400037, China

    Xianjing Cheng, Ruihao Huang, Shiqin Huang, Xiaoqi Wang & Xi Zhang

  3. Department of Ophthalmology, Xinqiao Hospital, Army Medical University, Chongqing, 400037, China

    Wei Fan & Rongdi Yuan

  4. Department of Hematology, Blood Diseases Institute, Xuzhou Medical University, The Affiliated Hospital of Xuzhou Medical University, Xuzhou, 221002, Jiangsu, China

    Lingyu Zeng

  5. Department of Hematology, Center of Hematologic Diseases of Chinese PLA, Lanzhou Military Command General Hospital, Lanzhou, 730050, Gansu, China

    Tao Wu

  6. Jinfeng Laboratory, Chongqing, 400037, China

    Xi Zhang

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Contributions

XZ is the Ph.D. advisor for XC and RH and helped select the research project, design, and supervise the study. RY and XW provided advice on the study design and critical editing of the manuscript. XC and RH collected and analyzed data and wrote the manuscript. All other authors collected data and reviewed the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Rongdi Yuan, Xiaoqi Wang or Xi Zhang.

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Cheng, X., Huang, R., Fan, W. et al. The tear cytokine panel is a useful biomarker for early diagnosis and severity-evaluating of ocular chronic graft-versus-host disease. Bone Marrow Transplant 58, 732–734 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41409-023-01952-2

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