Dynamic comparison of early immune reactions and immune cell reconstitution after umbilical cord blood transplantation and peripheral blood stem cell transplantation

Xuxu Zhao; Wenya Wang; Shiqin Nie; Liangquan Geng; Kaidi Song; Xinyi Zhang; Wen Yao; Ping Qiang; Guangyu Sun; Dongyao Wang; Huilan Liu

doi:10.3389/fimmu.2023.1084901

Dynamic comparison of early immune reactions and immune cell reconstitution after umbilical cord blood transplantation and peripheral blood stem cell transplantation

Front Immunol. 2023 Apr 11:14:1084901. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2023.1084901. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Xuxu Zhao^{1

2}, Wenya Wang^{1

2}, Shiqin Nie^{1

2}, Liangquan Geng¹, Kaidi Song¹, Xinyi Zhang¹, Wen Yao¹, Ping Qiang¹, Guangyu Sun¹, Dongyao Wang^{1

2

3}, Huilan Liu^{1

2

4}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Hematology, the First Affiliated Hospital of USTC, Division of Life Sciences and Medicine, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui, China.
² Blood and Cell Therapy Institute, Division of Life Sciences and Medicine, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui, China.
³ Anhui Province Key Laboratory of Immunology in Chronic Diseases, Bengbu Medical College, Bengbu, Anhui, China.
⁴ Department of Transfusion, the First Affiliated Hospital of USTC, Division of Life Sciences and Medicine, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui, China.

Abstract

Umbilical cord blood transplantation (UCBT) and peripheral blood stem cell transplantation (PBSCT) are effective allogeneic treatments for patients with malignant and non-malignant refractory hematological diseases. However, the differences in the immune cell reconstitution and the immune reactions during initial stages post-transplantation are not well established between UCBT and PBSCT. Therefore, in this study, we analyzed the differences in the immune reactions during the early stages (days 7-100 post-transplantation) such as pre-engraftment syndrome (PES), engraftment syndrome (ES), and acute graft-versus-host disease (aGVHD) and the immune cell reconstitution between the UCBT and the PBSCT group of patients. We enrolled a cohort of patients that underwent UCBT or PBSCT and healthy controls (n=25 each) and evaluated their peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) samples and plasma cytokine (IL-10 and GM-CSF) levels using flow cytometry and ELISA, respectively. Our results showed that the incidences of early immune reactions such as PES, ES, and aGVHD were significantly higher in the UCBT group compared to the PBSCT group. Furthermore, in comparison with the PBSCT group, the UCBT group showed higher proportion and numbers of naïve CD4⁺ T cells, lower proportion and numbers of Tregs, higher proportion of CD8⁺ T cells with increased activity, and higher proportion of mature CD56^dim CD16⁺ NK cells during the early stages post-transplantation. Moreover, the plasma levels of GM-CSF were significantly higher in the UCBT group compared to the PBSCT group in the third week after transplantation. Overall, our findings demonstrated significant differences in the post-transplantation immune cell reconstitution between the UCBT and the PBSCT group of patients. These characteristics were associated with significant differences between the UCBT and the PBSCT groups regarding the incidences of immune reactions during the early stages post transplantation.

Keywords: GvHD; PBSCT; UCBT; immune cell reconstitution; immune reactions.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

CD8-Positive T-Lymphocytes
Cord Blood Stem Cell Transplantation* / adverse effects
Graft vs Host Disease* / etiology
Granulocyte-Macrophage Colony-Stimulating Factor
Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation* / adverse effects
Humans
Leukocytes, Mononuclear
Peripheral Blood Stem Cell Transplantation* / adverse effects

Substances

Granulocyte-Macrophage Colony-Stimulating Factor

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the program of the Key Research and Development Plan in Anhui Province (grants 202104j07020045), the Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 82100230), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (No. WK9110000168 and No. WK9110000001), the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (2020M671910) and the Research Fund for the Key Laboratory of Anhui Province (KLICD-2022-Z2).