Administration of interleukin-7 after allogeneic bone marrow transplantation improves immune reconstitution without aggravating graft-versus-host disease.
Blood 2001;
98:2256-65. [PMID:
11568014 DOI:
10.1182/blood.v98.7.2256]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 152] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Prolonged immunodeficiency after allogeneic bone marrow transplantation (BMT) causes significant morbidity and mortality from infection. This study examined in murine models the effects of interleukin-7 (IL-7) given to young and middle-aged (9-month-old) recipients of major histocompatibility complex (MHC)-matched or -mismatched allogeneic BMT. Although administration of IL-7 from day 0 to 14 after syngeneic BMT promoted lymphoid reconstitution, this regimen was ineffective after allogeneic BMT. However, IL-7 administration from day 14 (or 21) to 27 after allogeneic BMT accelerated restoration of the major lymphoid cell populations even in middle-aged recipients. This regimen significantly expanded donor-derived thymocytes and peripheral T cells, B-lineage cells in bone marrow and spleen, splenic natural killer (NK) cells, NK T cells, and monocytes and macrophages. Interestingly, although recipients treated with IL-7 had significant increases in CD4(+) and CD8(+) memory T-cell populations, increases in naive T cells were less profound. Most notable, however, were the observations that IL-7 treatment did not exacerbate graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) in recipients of an MHC-matched BMT, and would ameliorate GVHD in recipients of a MHC-mismatched BMT. Nonetheless, graft-versus-leukemia (GVL) activity (measured against 32Dp210 leukemia) remained intact. Although activated and memory CD4(+) and CD8(+) T cells normally express high levels of IL-7 receptor (IL-7R, CD127), activated and memory alloreactive donor-derived T cells from recipients of allogeneic BMT expressed little IL-7R. This might explain the failure of IL-7 administration to exacerbate GVHD. In conclusion, posttransplant IL-7 administration to recipients of an allogeneic BMT enhances lymphoid reconstitution without aggravating GVHD while preserving GVL.
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