Disturbed B cell and DC-Homeostasis in Pediatric cGVHD Patients-Cocultivation Experiments and Review of the Literature

Julian Zipfe, Matthias Eyrich, Paul-Gerhardt Schlegel and Verena Wiegering

Department of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology and Stem Cell Transplantation, University Hospital Würzburg, Germany

^*Correspondance to: Julian Zipfel 

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Abstract:

B cells and DCs are suspected to play an important role in the pathogenesis of cGvHD, which is a serious complication of HSCT with high morbidity. It is characterized by immune responses of donor immune cells against recipient-derived antigens. Pathogenesis is not yet fully understood, however reconstitution of B cells after HSCT has similarities to physiologic ontogeny. Immunophenotyping and co-cultivation-experiments of B cells and DCs from pediatric patients with cGvHD as well as healthy donors were conducted. Significant differences between patients and healthy donors were observed with increased memory, transitional, CD69+ and CD86+ phenotype and lower levels of naïve B cells due to apoptosis. Co-cultivation revealed this to be primarily B cell-dependent without major effects of and with DCs. There was a decreased CD11c- phenotype in patients and less apoptosis of DCs. Our data suggest a disturbed homeostasis in B cells with increased memory phenotype in patients, whereas DCs could not influence these differences, therefore DCs are not imposing as promising targets. B cell-dependent approaches should be further investigated.

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Cite the Article:

Zipfel J, Eyrich M, Schlegel P-G, Wiegering V. Disturbed B cell and DC-Homeostasis in Pediatric cGVHD Patients-Cocultivation Experiments and Review of the Literature. Clin Oncol. 2016; 1: 1097.