Faculty Collaboration Database

Expansion of circulating extrafollicular helper T-like cells in patients with chronic graft-versus-host disease. J Autoimmun 2019 Jun;100:95-104

Date

03/18/2019

Pubmed ID

30878167

DOI

10.1016/j.jaut.2019.03.006

Scopus ID

2-s2.0-85065826200 (requires institutional sign-in at Scopus site)   11 Citations

Abstract

Chronic graft-versus-host disease (cGVHD) is a major cause of morbidity and mortality after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT). Previous studies have shown that T follicular helper cells (Tfh) contribute to immune pathology in cGVHD, but the function of extrafollicular helper T cells during cGVHD pathogenesis remains largely unknown. In the current study, we identified circulating extrafollicular helper T-like cells (CD44^hiCD62L^loPSGL-1^loCD4⁺, c-extrafollicular Th-like) in human peripheral blood. We performed phenotypic and functional analyses of c-extrafollicular Th-like cells from 80 patients after allo-HSCT to explore the role of these cells in the development of human cGVHD. Patients with active cGVHD had significantly higher frequencies and counts of c-extrafollicular Th-like cells than those of patients without cGVHD. The expansion of c-extrafollicular Th-like cells was more significant in patients with moderate/severe cGVHD than that of patients with mild cGVHD. C-extrafollicular Th-like cells from patients with active cGVHD exhibited increased functional abilities to induce plasmablast differentiation and IgG1 secretion compared to those of patients without cGVHD. Moreover, c-extrafollicular Th-like cell levels were highly correlated with the generation of autoreactive B cells, plasmablasts and IgG1 antibodies. Our studies provide new insights into human cGVHD pathogenesis and identify c-extrafollicular Th-like cells as a key element in the development of human cGVHD.

Author List

Jin H, Yang K, Zhang H, Chen Y, Qi H, Fan Z, Huang F, Xuan L, Lin R, Zhao K, Liu Q

Author

Kaipo Yang Postdoctoral Researcher in the Microbiology and Immunology department at Medical College of Wisconsin

MESH terms used to index this publication - Major topics in bold

Adolescent
Adult
Allografts
Chronic Disease
Female
Graft vs Host Disease
Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation
Humans
Immunoglobulin G
Male
Middle Aged
Plasma Cells
T-Lymphocytes, Helper-Inducer