Korean J Hematol.  2011 Mar;46(1):18-23. 10.5045/kjh.2011.46.1.18.

Lineage-specific chimerism analysis in nucleated cells, T cells and natural killer cells after myeloablative allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation

• Goh RY
• Kim SH
• Han JY

• KMID: 2252014
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.5045/kjh.2011.46.1.18

Abstract

BACKGROUND
Chimerism analysis is an important tool for assessing the origin of hematopoietic cells after allogeneic stem cell transplantation (allo-SCT) and can be used to detect impending graft rejection and the recurrence of underlying malignant or nonmalignant diseases.
METHODS
This study included 24 patients who underwent myeloablative allo-SCT. DNA was extracted from nucleated cells (NCs), T cells, and natural killer (NK) cells, and the chimerism status of these cell fractions was determined by STR-PCR performed using an automated fluorescent DNA analyzer.
RESULTS
Twenty-three out of the 24 patients achieved engraftment. Mixed chimerism (MC) in NCs, but not in T cells and NK cells, was significantly correlated with disease relapse. MC in all cell fractions was correlated with mortality. Ten patients (41.6%) developed extensive chronic GVHD. Six patients had MC in T cells, and 3 of them had chronic GVHD. Four patients with MC and relapse received donor lymphocyte infusion (DLI), and among them, 3 had secondary relapse. Further, the chimerism status differed among different cell lineages in 6 patients with myeloid malignancies.
CONCLUSION
The implications of MC in lymphocyte subsets are an important area for future research. Chimerism analysis in lineage-specific cells permits detection of relapse and facilitates the monitoring of therapeutic interventions. These results can provide the basic data for chimerism analysis after myeloablative SCT.

Keyword

Lineage-specific chimerism; Myeloablative stem cell transplantation; T cells; Natural killer cells

MeSH Terms

Cell Lineage
Chimerism
DNA
Graft Rejection
Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation
Hematopoietic Stem Cells
Humans
Killer Cells, Natural
Lymphocyte Subsets
Lymphocytes
Recurrence
Stem Cell Transplantation
T-Lymphocytes
Tissue Donors
DNA

Figure

• 

  Fig. 1 Chimerism results of unique patient number (UPN) 5 and UPN 11 after donor lymphocyte infusion (DLI). Four patients who received DLI (excluding UPN 11) showed mixed chimerism or relapse. UPN 11 maintained 100% donor chimerism during 867 days. UPN 5 had acute graft-versus-host disease after DLI. Abbreviations: DLI, donor lymphocyte infusion; GVHD, graft-versus-host disease; NCs, nucleated cells; NK, natural killer.

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