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Al Malki MM, London K, Baez J, Akahoshi Y, Hogan WJ, Etra A, Choe H, Hexner E, Langston A, Abhyankar S, Ponce DM, DeFilipp Z, Kitko CL, Adekola K, Reshef R, Ayuk F, Capellini A, Chanswangphuwana C, Eder M, Eng G, Gandhi I, Grupp S, Gleich S, Holler E, Javorniczky NR, Kasikis S, Kowalyk S, Morales G, Özbek U, Rösler W, Spyrou N, Yanik G, Young R, Chen YB, Nakamura R, Ferrara JLM, Levine JE. Phase 2 study of natalizumab plus standard corticosteroid treatment for high-risk acute graft-versus-host disease. Blood Adv 2023; 7:5189-5198. [PMID: 37235690 PMCID: PMC10505783 DOI: 10.1182/bloodadvances.2023009853] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/27/2023] [Revised: 04/05/2023] [Accepted: 04/10/2023] [Indexed: 05/28/2023] Open
Abstract
Graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract is the main cause of nonrelapse mortality (NRM) after allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation. Ann Arbor (AA) scores derived from serum biomarkers at onset of GVHD quantify GI crypt damage; AA2/3 scores correlate with resistance to treatment and higher NRM. We conducted a multicenter, phase 2 study using natalizumab, a humanized monoclonal antibody that blocks T-cell trafficking to the GI tract through the α4 subunit of α4β7 integrin, combined with corticosteroids as primary treatment for patients with new onset AA2/3 GVHD. Seventy-five patients who were evaluable were enrolled and treated; 81% received natalizumab within 2 days of starting corticosteroids. Therapy was well tolerated with no treatment emergent adverse events in >10% of patients. Outcomes for patients treated with natalizumab plus corticosteroids were compared with 150 well-matched controls from the MAGIC database whose primary treatment was corticosteroids alone. There were no significant differences in overall or complete response between patients treated with natalizumab plus corticosteroids and those treated with corticosteroids alone (60% vs 58%; P = .67% and 48% vs 48%; P = 1.0, respectively) including relevant subgroups. There were also no significant differences in NRM or overall survival at 12 months in patients treated with natalizumab plus corticosteroids compared with controls treated with corticosteroids alone (38% vs 39%; P = .80% and 46% vs 54%; P = .48, respectively). In this multicenter biomarker-based phase 2 study, natalizumab combined with corticosteroids failed to improve outcome of patients with newly diagnosed high-risk GVHD. This trial was registered at www.clinicaltrials.gov as # NCT02133924.
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Affiliation(s)
- Monzr M. Al Malki
- Hematology/Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation, City of Hope National Medical Center, Duarte, CA
| | - Kaitlyn London
- The Tisch Cancer Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY
| | - Janna Baez
- The Tisch Cancer Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY
| | - Yu Akahoshi
- The Tisch Cancer Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY
| | | | - Aaron Etra
- The Tisch Cancer Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY
| | - Hannah Choe
- Division of Hematology, James Cancer Center, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH
| | - Elizabeth Hexner
- Blood and Marrow Transplantation Program, Abramson Cancer Center, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA
| | | | - Sunil Abhyankar
- Division of Hematologic Malignancies and Cellular Therapeutics, University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, KS
| | - Doris M. Ponce
- Division of Hematology/Oncology, Department of Medicine, Adult Bone Marrow Transplantation Service, Memorial Sloan Kettering, New York, NY
| | - Zachariah DeFilipp
- Hematopoietic Cell Transplant and Cellular Therapy Program, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA
| | - Carrie L. Kitko
- Pediatric Stem Cell Transplant Program, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN
| | - Kehinde Adekola
- Division of Hematology/Oncology, Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL
| | - Ran Reshef
- Blood and Marrow Transplantation, Columbia University Medical Center, New York, NY
| | - Francis Ayuk
- Department of Stem Cell Transplantation, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany
| | - Alexandra Capellini
- The Tisch Cancer Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY
| | - Chantiya Chanswangphuwana
- Department of Medicine, Chulalongkorn University and King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital, Bangkok, Thailand
| | - Matthias Eder
- Department of Hematology, Hemostasis, Oncology, and Stem Cell Transplantation, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany
| | - Gilbert Eng
- The Tisch Cancer Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY
| | - Isha Gandhi
- The Tisch Cancer Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY
| | - Stephan Grupp
- Division of Oncology, The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA
| | - Sigrun Gleich
- Department of Hematology and Oncology, Internal Medicine III, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany
| | - Ernst Holler
- Department of Hematology and Oncology, Internal Medicine III, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany
| | - Nora Rebeka Javorniczky
- Department of Medicine I, Medical Center - University of Freiburg, Faculty of Medicine, Albert Ludwigs University, Freiburg, Germany
| | - Stelios Kasikis
- The Tisch Cancer Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY
| | - Steven Kowalyk
- The Tisch Cancer Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY
| | - George Morales
- The Tisch Cancer Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY
| | - Umut Özbek
- Department of Population Health Science and Policy, Tisch Cancer Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY
| | - Wolf Rösler
- Department of Internal Medicine 5, University Hospital Erlangen, Erlangen, Germany
| | - Nikolaos Spyrou
- The Tisch Cancer Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY
| | - Gregory Yanik
- Blood and Marrow Transplant Program, Michigan Medicine, Ann Arbor, MI
| | - Rachel Young
- The Tisch Cancer Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY
| | - Yi-Bin Chen
- Hematopoietic Cell Transplant and Cellular Therapy Program, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA
| | - Ryotaro Nakamura
- Hematology/Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation, City of Hope National Medical Center, Duarte, CA
| | - James L. M. Ferrara
- The Tisch Cancer Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY
| | - John E. Levine
- The Tisch Cancer Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY
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Etra A, Capellini A, Alousi A, Al Malki MM, Choe H, DeFilipp Z, Hogan WJ, Kitko CL, Ayuk F, Baez J, Gandhi I, Kasikis S, Gleich S, Hexner E, Hoepting M, Kapoor U, Kowalyk S, Kwon D, Langston A, Mielcarek M, Morales G, Özbek U, Qayed M, Reshef R, Rösler W, Spyrou N, Young R, Chen YB, Ferrara JLM, Levine JE. Effective treatment of low-risk acute GVHD with itacitinib monotherapy. Blood 2023; 141:481-489. [PMID: 36095841 PMCID: PMC9936304 DOI: 10.1182/blood.2022017442] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/16/2022] [Revised: 07/27/2022] [Accepted: 07/31/2022] [Indexed: 02/07/2023] Open
Abstract
The standard primary treatment for acute graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) requires prolonged, high-dose systemic corticosteroids (SCSs) that delay reconstitution of the immune system. We used validated clinical and biomarker staging criteria to identify a group of patients with low-risk (LR) GVHD that is very likely to respond to SCS. We hypothesized that itacitinib, a selective JAK1 inhibitor, would effectively treat LR GVHD without SCS. We treated 70 patients with LR GVHD in a multicenter, phase 2 trial (NCT03846479) with 28 days of itacitinib 200 mg/d (responders could receive a second 28-day cycle), and we compared their outcomes to those of 140 contemporaneous, matched control patients treated with SCSs. More patients responded to itacitinib within 7 days (81% vs 66%, P = .02), and response rates at day 28 were very high for both groups (89% vs 86%, P = .67), with few symptomatic flares (11% vs 12%, P = .88). Fewer itacitinib-treated patients developed a serious infection within 90 days (27% vs 42%, P = .04) due to fewer viral and fungal infections. Grade ≥3 cytopenias were similar between groups except for less severe leukopenia with itacitinib (16% vs 31%, P = .02). No other grade ≥3 adverse events occurred in >10% of itacitinib-treated patients. There were no significant differences between groups at 1 year for nonrelapse mortality (4% vs 11%, P = .21), relapse (18% vs 21%, P = .64), chronic GVHD (28% vs 33%, P = .33), or survival (88% vs 80%, P = .11). Itacitinib monotherapy seems to be a safe and effective alternative to SCS treatment for LR GVHD and deserves further investigation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aaron Etra
- The Tisch Cancer Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY
| | - Alexandra Capellini
- The Tisch Cancer Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY
| | - Amin Alousi
- Department of Stem Cell Transplantation and Cellular Therapy, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX
| | - Monzr M. Al Malki
- Hematology/Hematopoietic Cell Transplant, City of Hope National Medical Center, Duarte, CA
| | - Hannah Choe
- Division of Hematology, James Cancer Center, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH
| | - Zachariah DeFilipp
- Hematopoietic Cell Transplant and Cellular Therapy Program, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA
| | | | - Carrie L. Kitko
- Pediatric Stem Cell Transplant Program, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN
| | - Francis Ayuk
- Department of Stem Cell Transplantation, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany
| | - Janna Baez
- The Tisch Cancer Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY
| | - Isha Gandhi
- The Tisch Cancer Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY
| | - Stelios Kasikis
- The Tisch Cancer Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY
| | - Sigrun Gleich
- Department of Hematology and Oncology, Internal Medicine III, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany
| | - Elizabeth Hexner
- Blood and Marrow Transplantation Program, Abramson Cancer Center, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA
| | - Matthias Hoepting
- Department of Hematology and Oncology, Internal Medicine III, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany
| | - Urvi Kapoor
- The Tisch Cancer Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY
| | - Steven Kowalyk
- The Tisch Cancer Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY
| | - Deukwoo Kwon
- Department of Population Health Science and Policy, Tisch Cancer Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY
| | | | - Marco Mielcarek
- Adult Blood and Marrow Transplant Program, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA
| | - George Morales
- The Tisch Cancer Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY
| | - Umut Özbek
- Department of Population Health Science and Policy, Tisch Cancer Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY
| | - Muna Qayed
- Aflac Cancer and Blood Disorders Center, Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, Atlanta, GA
| | - Ran Reshef
- Blood and Marrow Transplantation Program, Columbia University Medical Center, New York, NY
| | - Wolf Rösler
- Med. Klinik III/Poliklinik, Universitatsklinik Erlangen, Erlangen, Germany
| | - Nikolaos Spyrou
- The Tisch Cancer Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY
| | - Rachel Young
- The Tisch Cancer Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY
| | - Yi-Bin Chen
- Hematopoietic Cell Transplant and Cellular Therapy Program, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA
| | - James L. M. Ferrara
- The Tisch Cancer Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY
| | - John E. Levine
- The Tisch Cancer Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY
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Kasikis S, Baez J, Gandhi I, Grupp S, Kitko CL, Kowalyk S, Merli P, Morales G, Pulsipher MA, Qayed M, Wölfl M, Yanik G, See F, Hayes J, Grossman F, Burke E, Young R, Levine JE, Ferrara JLM. Mesenchymal stromal cell therapy induces high responses and survival in children with steroid refractory GVHD and poor risk biomarkers. Bone Marrow Transplant 2021; 56:2869-2870. [PMID: 34471240 PMCID: PMC9840529 DOI: 10.1038/s41409-021-01442-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/18/2021] [Revised: 07/29/2021] [Accepted: 08/18/2021] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Stelios Kasikis
- Tisch Cancer Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, NY, NY
| | - Janna Baez
- Tisch Cancer Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, NY, NY
| | - Isha Gandhi
- Tisch Cancer Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, NY, NY
| | - Stephan Grupp
- Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and Perelman School of Medicine
| | | | - Steven Kowalyk
- Tisch Cancer Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, NY, NY
| | - Pietro Merli
- Istituto di Ricovero e Cura a Carattere Scientifico, Ospedale Pediatrico Bambino Gesuù, Rome, Italy
| | - George Morales
- Tisch Cancer Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, NY, NY
| | - Michael A. Pulsipher
- Section of Transplantation and Cellular Therapy, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA
| | - Muna Qayed
- Aflac Cancer and Blood Disorders Center, Emory University and Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, Atlanta, GA
| | - Matthias Wölfl
- Children’s Hospital, University of Würzburg, Würzburg Germany
| | | | | | | | | | | | - Rachel Young
- Tisch Cancer Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, NY, NY
| | - John E. Levine
- Tisch Cancer Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, NY, NY
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4
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Zewde MG, Morales G, Gandhi I, Özbek U, Aguayo-Hiraldo P, Ayuk F, Baez J, Chanswangphuwana C, Choe H, DeFilipp Z, Etra A, Grupp S, Hexner EO, Hogan W, Javorniczky NR, Kasikis S, Kitko CL, Kowalyk S, Meedt E, Merli P, Nakamura R, Qayed M, Reshef R, Rösler W, Schechter T, Weber D, Wölfl M, Yanik G, Young R, Levine JE, Ferrara JLM, Chen YB. Evaluation of Elafin as a Prognostic Biomarker in Acute Graft-versus-Host Disease. Transplant Cell Ther 2021; 27:988.e1-988.e7. [PMID: 34474163 DOI: 10.1016/j.jtct.2021.08.021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/24/2021] [Revised: 08/23/2021] [Accepted: 08/24/2021] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
Acute graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) is a major cause of mortality in patients undergoing hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) for hematologic malignancies. The skin is the most commonly involved organ in GVHD. Elafin, a protease inhibitor overexpressed in inflamed epidermis, was previously identified as a diagnostic biomarker of skin GVHD; however, this finding was restricted to a subset of patients with isolated skin GVHD. The main driver of nonrelapse mortality (NRM) in HCT recipients is gastrointestinal (GI) GVHD. Two biomarkers, Regenerating islet-derived 3a (REG3α) and Suppressor of tumorigenesis 2 (ST2), have been validated as biomarkers of GI GVHD that predict long-term outcomes in patients treated for GVHD. We undertook this study to determine the utility of elafin as a prognostic biomarker in the general population of acute GVHD patients in whom GVHD may develop in multiple organs. We analyzed serum elafin concentrations as a predictive biomarker of acute GVHD outcomes and compared it with ST2 and REG3α in a large group of patients treated at multiple centers. A total of 526 patients from the Mount Sinai Acute GVHD International Consortium (MAGIC) who had received corticosteroid treatment for skin GVHD and who had not been previously studied were analyzed. Serum concentrations of elafin, ST2, and REG3α were measured by ELISA in all patients. The patients were divided at random into equal training and validation sets, and a competing-risk regression model was developed to model 6-month NRM using elafin concentration in the training set. Additional models were developed using concentrations of ST2 and REG3α or the combination of all 3 biomarkers as predictors. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were constructed using the validation set to evaluate the predictive accuracy of each model and to stratify patients into high- and low-risk biomarker groups. The cumulative incidence of 6-month NRM, overall survival (OS), and 4-week treatment response were compared between the risk groups. Unexpectedly, patients in the low-risk elafin group demonstrated a higher incidence of 6-month NRM, although the difference was not statistically significant (17% versus 11%; P = .19). OS at 6 months (68% versus 68%; P > .99) and 4-week response (78% versus 78%; P = .98) were similar in the low-risk and high-risk elafin groups. The area under the ROC curve (AUC) was 0.55 for elafin and 0.75 for the combination of ST2 and REG3α. The addition of elafin to the other 2 biomarkers did not improve the AUC. Our data indicate that serum elafin concentrations measured at the initiation of systemic treatment for acute GVHD did not predict 6-month NRM, OS, or treatment response in a multicenter population of patients treated systemically for acute GVHD. As seen in previous studies, serum concentrations of the GI GVHD biomarkers ST2 and REG3α were significant predictors of NRM, and the addition of elafin levels did not improve their accuracy. These results underscore the importance of GI disease in driving NRM in patients who develop acute GVHD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Makda Getachew Zewde
- Tisch Cancer Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, New York
| | - George Morales
- Tisch Cancer Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, New York
| | - Isha Gandhi
- Tisch Cancer Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, New York
| | - Umut Özbek
- Biostatistics Shared Resource Facility, Tisch Cancer Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, New York
| | - Paibel Aguayo-Hiraldo
- Children's Center for Cancer and Blood Diseases, Blood and Marrow Transplantation Section, Children's Hospital Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California
| | - Francis Ayuk
- Department of Stem Cell Transplantation, University Medical Center, Hamburg-Eppendorf, Germany
| | - Janna Baez
- Tisch Cancer Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, New York
| | | | - Hannah Choe
- Blood and Marrow Transplantation Program, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio
| | - Zachariah DeFilipp
- Hematopoietic Cell Transplant and Cellular Therapy Program, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts
| | - Aaron Etra
- Tisch Cancer Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, New York
| | - Stephan Grupp
- Division of Oncology, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
| | - Elizabeth O Hexner
- Abramson Cancer Center, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
| | - William Hogan
- Blood and Marrow Transplantation Program, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota
| | - Nora Rebeka Javorniczky
- Department of Medicine I, Medical Center-University of Freiburg, Faculty of Medicine, University of Freiburg, Germany
| | - Stelios Kasikis
- Tisch Cancer Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, New York
| | - Carrie L Kitko
- Pediatric Blood and Marrow Transplantation Program, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee
| | - Steven Kowalyk
- Tisch Cancer Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, New York
| | - Elisabeth Meedt
- Blood and Marrow Transplantation Program, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany
| | - Pietro Merli
- Department of Pediatric Hematology and Oncology, Bambino Gesù Children's Hospital, Rome, Italy
| | - Ryotaro Nakamura
- Hematology and Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation, City of Hope Medical Center, Duarte, California
| | - Muna Qayed
- Pediatric Blood and Marrow Transplantation Program, Aflac Cancer and Blood Disorders Center, Emory University and Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, Atlanta
| | - Ran Reshef
- Blood and Marrow Transplantation Program, Columbia University, New York, New York
| | - Wolf Rösler
- Department of Internal Medicine 5, Hematology/Oncology, University Hospital Erlangen, Erlangen, Germany
| | - Tal Schechter
- Division of Hematology/Oncology, Department of Pediatrics, University of Toronto, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - Daniela Weber
- Blood and Marrow Transplantation Program, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany
| | - Matthias Wölfl
- Pediatric Blood and Marrow Transplantation Program, Children's Hospital, University of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany
| | - Gregory Yanik
- Blood and Marrow Transplantation Program, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan
| | - Rachel Young
- Tisch Cancer Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, New York
| | - John E Levine
- Tisch Cancer Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, New York
| | - James L M Ferrara
- Tisch Cancer Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, New York.
| | - Yi-Bin Chen
- Hematopoietic Cell Transplant and Cellular Therapy Program, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts
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5
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Amin K, Yaqoob U, Schultz B, Vaughn BP, Khoruts A, Howard JR, DeFor TE, Forster C, Meyer C, Gandhi I, Weisdorf DJ, Rashidi A, MacMillan ML, Blazar BR, Panoskaltsis-Mortari A, Holtan SG. Amphiregulin in intestinal acute graft-versus-host disease: a possible diagnostic and prognostic aid. Mod Pathol 2019; 32:560-567. [PMID: 30425334 PMCID: PMC6941942 DOI: 10.1038/s41379-018-0170-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/11/2018] [Revised: 10/01/2018] [Accepted: 10/02/2018] [Indexed: 12/28/2022]
Abstract
Amphiregulin, a weak epidermal growth factor receptor agonist, is elevated, while epidermal growth factor, a strong epidermal growth factor receptor agonist, is low in the blood of patients with severe acute graft-versus-host disease. However, the tissue expression and function of these epidermal growth factor receptor ligands in acute graft-versus-host disease target organs is unknown. We compared by immunohistochemistry expression of amphiregulin and epidermal growth factor in archived, formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded intestinal tissues of 48 patients with biopsy-proven gastrointestinal acute graft-versus-host disease to 3 groups: (1) 10 non-hematopoietic cell transplant normal controls, (2) 11 patients with newly diagnosed ulcerative colitis (ulcerative colitis), (3) 8 patients with a clinical diagnosis of acute graft-versus-host disease despite pathologically non-diagnostic biopsies, (4) and 10 cases of cytomegalovirus colitis. We used a semi-quantitative score of 0 (absent) through 3 (strong) to describe the intensity of immunohistochemical staining. We correlated serum and tissue amphiregulin and epidermal growth factor in patients with acute graft-versus-host disease. Gastrointestinal amphiregulin was significantly lower in acute graft-versus-host disease biopsies (median score 1), ulcerative colitis (median score 1.5), and cytomegalovirus colitis (median score 1) than in normal colon (median score 2, p = 0.004, p = 0.03, p = 0.009 respectively). Amphiregulin expression in was low in 74% of acute graft-versus-host disease cases with or without significant apoptosis. Patients with acute graft-versus-host disease exhibiting the pattern of high gastrointestinal amphiregulin but low serum amphiregulin (n = 14) had the best 1-year survival at 71%, but patients with high serum amphiregulin had poorer survival (<30%) regardless of gastrointestinal amphiregulin expression. Overall, our results lead to the hypothesis that amphiregulin is released into the circulation from damaged intestinal epithelium and stroma, although contributions from other cellular sources are likely. Low gastrointestinal amphiregulin expression by immunohistochemistry may be further studied for its utility in the pathologic acute graft-versus-host disease diagnosis without classic apoptotic changes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Khalid Amin
- Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, University
of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA
| | | | - Brittney Schultz
- Department of Internal Medicine, University of Minnesota,
Minneapolis, MN, USA
| | - Byron P. Vaughn
- Department of Internal Medicine, Division of
Gastroenterology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA
| | - Alexander Khoruts
- Department of Internal Medicine, Division of
Gastroenterology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA
| | - Justin R. Howard
- Department of Internal Medicine, Division of
Gastroenterology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA
| | - Todd E. DeFor
- Biostatistics and Informatics, University of Minnesota,
Minneapolis, MN, USA,Hematology, Oncology and Transplant, University of
Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA
| | - Colleen Forster
- Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, University
of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA
| | - Carolyn Meyer
- Department of Pediatrics, University of Minnesota,
Minneapolis, MN, USA
| | - Isha Gandhi
- College of Biological Sciences, University of Minnesota,
Minneapolis, MN, USA
| | - Daniel J. Weisdorf
- Hematology, Oncology and Transplant, University of
Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA
| | - Armin Rashidi
- Hematology, Oncology and Transplant, University of
Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA
| | | | - Bruce R. Blazar
- Hematology, Oncology and Transplant, University of
Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA
| | - Angela Panoskaltsis-Mortari
- Department of Pediatrics, University of Minnesota,
Minneapolis, MN, USA,Hematology, Oncology and Transplant, University of
Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA
| | - Shernan G. Holtan
- Hematology, Oncology and Transplant, University of
Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA
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6
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Gandhi I. India: the human factor in overcoming population problems. Asian Pac Popul Programme News 1984; 13:15-6. [PMID: 12313051] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 04/19/2023]
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7
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8
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Gandhi I. A people's movement for health and family planning. Indian J Pediatr 1981; 48:389-94. [PMID: 7327627 DOI: 10.1007/bf02822275] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/24/2023]
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9
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Gandhi I. We must now act decisively... J Indian Med Assoc 1976; 66:253. [PMID: 977967] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [MESH Headings] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/25/2022]
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10
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Gandhi I. Family planning programme need for self-examination. Swasth Hind 1975; 19:98-100. [PMID: 12308209] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 04/19/2023]
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