Specific self-antigen-driven immune response in pericardial effusion as an isolated GVHD manifestation

Pericardial Effusion as a Purported Manifestation of Graft-versus-Host Disease following Allogeneic Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation

Large pericardial effusion (LPE) and tamponade are purported manifestations associated with atypical chronic graft-versus-host disease (cGVHD); however, their temporal association with GVHD, management, and impact on overall outcome are not well established. We report a retrospective analysis of 38 patients who developed LPE from a cohort of 1265 (3.00%) patients age ≥18 years who underwent allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (alloHCT) at Mayo Clinic between March 1993 and August 2020. The median patient age at the time of LPE was 54 years (interquartile range [IQR], 44 to 58 years), and 8 of the 38 patients (21%) had previous cardiomyopathy. The median time from alloHCT to detection of LPE was 197 days (IQR, 40 to 378 days). Overall, the incidence of grade II (15 of 38; 40%) and grade III-IV (9 of 38; 24%) acute GVHD (aGVHD) was higher in patients who developed LPE compared with those who did not develop LPE (P = .005). The incidence rates of moderate (10 of 38; 26%) and severe (15 of 38; 40%) cGVHD according to the 2014 National Institutes of Health cGVHD criteria were also higher in the LPE cohort (P = .03). Twenty-nine patients (76%) presented with cardiac tamponade, 32 patients (84%) underwent urgent pericardiocentesis for symptomatic LPE, and 2 patients had a pericardial window placement. Four patients were medically managed with colchicine, steroids, diuresis, and immunosuppressive therapy (IST). On multivariable analysis, HCT Comorbidity Index (HCT-CI) group (hazard ratio [HR] 3.57; [95% confidence interval (CI), 1.29 to 9.85; P = .014] for HCT-CI 1 to 2; 4.06 [95% CI, 1.50 to 10.99; P = .006] for HCT-CI ≥3) and aGVHD (HR, 2.38 [95% CI, 1.11 to 5.12; P = .026] for grade II and 2.82 [95% CI, 1.07 to 7.44; P = .038] for grade III-IV) were significant risk factors for developing LPE. At a median follow-up of 40 months post-alloHCT, median disease-free survival (DFS) was 34.2 months (95% CI, 25.3 to 45.7 months) in patients who did not develop LPE and 32.2 months (95% CI, 13.2 to undefined upper limit) in those who developed LPE (P = .41). The median overall survival (OS) post-alloHCT was 50.9 months (95% CI, 41.8 to 64.8 months) in patients who did not develop LPE and was 32.9 months (95% CI, 19.5 to undefined upper limit) in patients who developed LPE (P = .003). In summary, LPE and tamponade can present at various time points post-alloHCT, and management includes pericardiocentesis, steroids, and intensification/initiation of IST if associated with serositis. LPE does not appear to result in permanent cardiac damage but results in inferior OS.

Pericarditis Associated With Human Herpesvirus-6 Reactivation in a Patient After Unrelated Cord Blood Transplant

A 53-year-old woman with myelodysplastic syndrome received a cord blood transplant because she had frequent episodes of febrile neutropenia. As a conditioning regimen for transplant, she received 12 Gy total body irradiation, intravenous cytosine arabinoside 3 g/m2 every 12 hours on days -5 and -4, and cyclophosphamide 60 mg/kg/day on days -3 and -2. She received tacrolimus and short-term methotrexate treatment as prophylaxis for graft-versus-host disease. Her cardiac function was normal before transplant. She developed acute heart failure with a mild pericardial effusion 11 days after transplant, but her failure improved with a diuretic, vasodilator, and inotropic agent. She complained of dyspnea, and chest auscultation revealed pericardial friction rubs on day 28. Massive pericardial effusion was detected by echocardiography and pericarditis was diagnosed. The pericardial space was drained by pericardiocentesis. The pericardial fluid was exudative, but no bacteria or fungi were cultured. On viral polymerase chain reaction examination, human herpesvirus-6 was detected at a level of 3 × 104 copies/mL in the pericardial effusion, but not in the peripheral blood. With conservative treatment alone, that did not include antiviral therapy, her symptoms disappeared on day 56. We conclude that human herpesvirus-6 reactivation may have been associated with her pericarditis.

Risk factors for pericardial effusion in adult patients receiving allogeneic haematopoietic stem cell transplantation

Pericardial effusion (PE) is a rare but potentially life-threatening complication for allogeneic haematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) recipients. The risk factors, aetiology, incidence and therapy are largely unclear. To investigate this issue, we reviewed 391 adult patients undergoing allogeneic HSCT between January 2003 and December 2013. Twelve out of 391 patients (3·1%) developed PE of moderate to large amounts, including 9 out of 12 patients (75%) identified as late-onset PE. Two out of the nine patients with late-onset PE experienced recurrent effusion. The median age at HSCT was 44·5 years (range: 22-63 years) among the 12 patients with PE and 47 years in the late-onset patients. Multivariate analysis revealed that multiple transplant procedures was a significant risk factor for PE (P = 0·036) and a trend as risk factor in patients aged>50 years (P = 0·066). For late-onset PE, pre-transplant age>50 years (P = 0·032) and extensive chronic graft-versus-host disease (cGVHD) (P = 0·006) remained statistically significant on multivariate analysis. Currently, there are no published data exploring the risk factors for post-transplant PE in adult patients of allogeneic HSCT. Our study determined the risk factors and incidence for the post-transplant PE, especially in the late-onset group.

The kinetics of early T and B cell immune recovery after bone marrow transplantation in RAG-2-deficient SCID patients

The kinetics of T and B cell immune recovery after bone marrow transplantation (BMT) is affected by many pre- and post-transplant factors. Because of the profoundly depleted baseline T and B cell immunity in recombination activating gene 2 (RAG-2)-deficient severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID) patients, some of these factors are eliminated, and the immune recovery after BMT can then be clearly assessed. This process was followed in ten SCID patients in parallel to their associated transplant-related complications. Early peripheral presence of T and B cells was observed in 8 and 4 patients, respectively. The latter correlated with pre-transplant conditioning therapy. Cells from these patients carried mainly signal joint DNA episomes, indicative of newly derived B and T cells. They were present before the normalization of the T cell receptor (TCR) and the B cell receptor (BCR) repertoire. Early presentation of the ordered TCR gene rearrangements after BMT occurred simultaneously, but this pattern was heterogeneous over time, suggesting different and individual thymic recovery processes. Our findings early after transplant could suggest the long-term patients' clinical outcome. Early peripheral presence of newly produced B and T lymphocytes from their production and maturation sites after BMT suggests donor stem cell origin rather than peripheral expansion, and is indicative of successful outcome. Peripheral detection of TCR excision circles and kappa-deleting recombination excision circles in RAG-2-deficient SCID post-BMT are early markers of T and B cell reconstitution, and can be used to monitor outcome and tailor specific therapy for patients undergoing BMT.