Increased apoptosis of peripheral blood T cells following allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation

• Published in: Blood 2000-06, Vol.95 (12), p.3832-3839
• Main Authors: LIN, M.-T, TSENG, L.-H, FRANGOUL, H, GOOLEY, T, JI PEI, BARSOUKOV, A, AKATSUKA, Y, HANSEN, J. A
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Acute Disease; Adult; Anesthesia. Intensive care medicine. Transfusions. Cell therapy and gene therapy; Antigens, CD - blood; Apoptosis - immunology; Biological and medical sciences; Bone marrow, stem cells transplantation. Graft versus host reaction; CD3 Complex - blood; Cells, Cultured; Dactinomycin - analogs & derivatives; Dactinomycin - pharmacology; Fluorescent Dyes; Graft vs Host Disease - blood; Graft vs Host Disease - immunology; Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation; Histocompatibility Testing; HLA-DR Antigens - blood; Humans; In Situ Nick-End Labeling; Medical sciences; Middle Aged; T-Lymphocytes - drug effects; T-Lymphocytes - immunology; T-Lymphocytes - pathology; Transfusions. Complications. Transfusion reactions. Cell and gene therapy; Transplantation, Homologous - immunology
• ISSN: 0006-4971; 1528-0020
• DOI: 10.1182/blood.v95.12.3832

Lymphopenia and immune deficiency are significant problems following allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT). It is largely assumed that delayed immune reconstruction is due to a profound decrease in thymus-dependent lymphopoiesis, especially in older patients, but apoptosis is also known to play a significant role in lymphocyte homeostasis. Peripheral T cells from patients who received HCT were studied for evidence of increased cell death. Spontaneous apoptosis was measured in CD3(+) T cells following a 24-hour incubation using 7-amino-actinomycin D in conjunction with the dual staining of cell surface antigens. Apoptosis was significantly greater among CD3(+) T cells taken from patients 19-23 days after transplantation (30.4% +/- 12.5%, P