SEARCH:   Advanced

Blood, 16 April 2009, Vol. 113, No. 16, pp. 3865-3874. Prepublished online as a Blood First Edition Paper on January 23, 2009; DOI 10.1182/blood-2008-09-177840. This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) All Versions of this Article: blood-2008-09-177840v1 113/16/3865    most recent Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Rights and Permissions Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via CrossRef Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Sarantopoulos, S. Articles by Ritz, J. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Sarantopoulos, S. Articles by Ritz, J. Related Collections Immunobiology Transplantation Social Bookmarking                   What's this?  Previous Article  |  Table of Contents  |  Next Article  TRANSPLANTATION Altered B-cell homeostasis and excess BAFF in human chronic graft-versus-host disease Stefanie Sarantopoulos1, Kristen E. Stevenson2, Haesook T. Kim2, Corey S. Cutler1, Nazmim S. Bhuiya1, Michael Schowalter1, Vincent T. Ho1, Edwin P. Alyea1, John Koreth1, Bruce R. Blazar3, Robert J. Soiffer1, Joseph H. Antin1, and Jerome Ritz1,4,5 1 Division of Hematologic Malignancies and Department of Medical Oncology and 2 Department of Biostatistics and Computational Biology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA; 3 Cancer Center and Department of Pediatrics, Division of Bone Marrow Transplantation, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis; 4 Cancer Vaccine Center, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA; and 5 Harvard Stem Cell Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA Chronic graft-versus-host disease (cGVHD) causes significant morbidity and mortality in patients otherwise cured of malignancy after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). The presence of alloantibodies and high plasma B cell–activating factor (BAFF) levels in patients with cGVHD suggest that B cells play a role in disease pathogenesis. We performed detailed phenotypic and functional analyses of peripheral B cells in 82 patients after HSCT. Patients with cGVHD had significantly higher BAFF/B-cell ratios compared with patients without cGVHD or healthy donors. In cGVHD, increasing BAFF concentrations correlated with increased numbers of circulating pre–germinal center (GC) B cells and post-GC "plasmablast-like" cells, suggesting in vivo BAFF dependence of these 2 CD27+ B-cell subsets. Circulating CD27+ B cells in cGVHD comprised in vivo activated B cells capable of IgG production without requiring additional antigen stimulation. Serial studies revealed that patients who subsequently developed cGVHD had delayed reconstitution of naive B cells despite persistent BAFF elevation as well as proportional increase in CD27+ B cells in the first year after HSCT. These studies delineate specific abnormalities of B-cell homeostasis in patients with cGVHD and suggest that BAFF targeting agents may be useful in this disease. CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    What's this? This article has been cited by other articles: D. A. Jacobsohn, A. L. Gilman, A. Rademaker, B. Browning, M. Grimley, L. Lehmann, E. R. Nemecek, K. Thormann, K. R. Schultz, and G. B. Vogelsang Evaluation of pentostatin in corticosteroid-refractory chronic graft-versus-host disease in children: a Pediatric Blood and Marrow Transplant Consortium study Blood, November 12, 2009; 114(20): 4354 - 4360. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] Z. Kuzmina, H. T. Greinix, R. Knobler, N. Worel, M. Kouba, R. Weigl, U. Kormoczi, A. Rottal, D. Pohlreich, C. Zielinski, et al. Proportions of immature CD19+CD21- B lymphocytes predict the response to extracorporeal photopheresis in patients with chronic graft-versus-host disease Blood, July 16, 2009; 114(3): 744 - 746. [Full Text] [PDF]

	Copyright © 2009 by American Society of Hematology         Online ISSN: 1528-0020