Improved Vδ2+ T cells recovery correlates to reduced incidences of mortality and relapse in acute myeloid leukemia after hematopoietic transplantation

• Published in: Annals of hematology 2023-04, Vol.102 (4), p.937-946
• Main Authors: Yue, Keli, Gao, Haitao, Liang, Shuang, Wu, Ning, Cheng, Cong, Xu, Lan-Ping, Zhang, Xiao-Hui, Wang, Yu, Cheng, Yifei, Huang, Xiao-Jun, Liu, Jiangying
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Chronic Disease; Hematology; Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation - adverse effects; Humans; Incidence; Leukemia; Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute; Lymphocytes; Medical prognosis; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Mortality; Oncology; Original Article; Recurrence; Stem cell transplantation; Transplantation, Homologous
• ISSN: 0939-5555; 1432-0584
• DOI: 10.1007/s00277-023-05125-5

Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) patients can benefit from allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (alloHCT) and achieve long-term remission. Recovery of T cell quantity and quality is critical to reduce the incidences of life-threatening complications after alloHCT. Although the general recovery level of γδ T cells is recognized to be associated with outcomes of patients who suffered from various hematological diseases and received alloHCT, the correlation between γδ T cell subsets and the prognosis in AML patients following transplantation remains to be investigated. In the current study, the recoveries of T cell subpopulations in 103 AML patients were dissected at different time points after haploidentical HCT (haploHCT). Statistical analyses showed that the absolute number of Vδ2 + T cells on day 90 was an independent risk factor for predicting 2-year OS in AML patients following haploHCT. The survival advantage from the improved recovery of day-90 Vδ2 + T cells was attributed to reducing the infection-related mortality. Consistently, lower 2-year non-relapse mortality was found in recipients with higher day-90 levels of Vδ2 + T cells. Notably, day-270 Vδ2 + T cell numbers reversely correlated to both 2-year and 5-year probabilities of relapse in this scenario. These results highlighted the significant correlation of Vδ2 + T cells recovery with long-term survival and relapse after alloHCT, suggesting that Vδ2 + T cells-based immune strategies may help control infectious complications and leukemia recurrence in AML patients.