Cancer Institute A national cancer institute
designated cancer center

Robert Negrin

Publication Details

  • CD4+CD25+ regulatory T cells preserve graft-versus-tumor activity while inhibiting graft-versus-host disease after bone marrow transplantation.

    Edinger M, Hoffmann P, Ermann J, Drago K, Fathman CG, Strober S, Negrin RS. Nat Med. 2003; 9 (9): 1144-50

    Mature donor T cells cause graft-versus-host disease (GVHD), but they are also the main mediators of the beneficial graft-versus-tumor (GVT) activity of allogeneic bone marrow transplantation. Suppression of GVHD with maintenance of GVT activity is a desirable outcome for clinical transplantation. We have previously shown that donor-derived CD4+CD25+ regulatory T cells inhibit lethal GVHD after allogeneic bone marrow transplantation across major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I and II barriers in mice. Here we demonstrate that in host mice with leukemia and lymphoma, CD4+CD25+ regulatory T cells suppress the early expansion of alloreactive donor T cells, their interleukin-2-receptor (IL-2R) alpha-chain expression and their capacity to induce GVHD without abrogating their GVT effector function, mediated primarily by the perforin lysis pathway. Thus, CD4+CD25+ T cells are potent regulatory cells that can separate GVHD from GVT activity mediated by conventional donor T cells.

    PubMedID: 12925844

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