Association Of Chemokine Receptor CCR5, CCR6 and CCR7 Expressions On T Lymphocyte Subsets In Recipients After Allo-HSCT With Acute GvHD

Introduction To study the correlation of chemokine receptors expression on T lymphocyte subsets in recipients after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT) with acute graft-versus-host disease (acute GVHD). Methods Forty-four recipients of family donor allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation were included in this study. According to the severity of acute GVHD, the recipients were divided into Grade II-IV acute GVHD group (n=16) and Grade 0-I acute GVHD group (n=28). Additionally,fifty healthy donors were also included in this study as the control group (n=50). The expression of chemokine receptors (CCR2,CCR5,CCR6,CCR7,CCR9 and CXCR3) on CD4+ and CD8+T cells in the peripheral blood after transplantation were detected using flow cytometry (FCM) respectively. The differences of the chemokine receptors expression between each group were compared. Results In both Grade 0-I acute GVHD group (on the 30th day after transplantation) and Grade II-IV acute GVHD group (at the peak of GVHD), CCR5 expression was significantly higher than that in the control group (p<0.01), and the expression of CCR7 was significantly lower than that in the control group (p<0.01). However, compared with the Grade 0-I acute GVHD group, the Grade II-IV acute GVHD group showed lower CD4+/CD8+ cell ratio (0.36 ± 0.30 vs 0.76 ± 0.61, p=0.003), higher CD4+CCR5+ ratio (65.20 ± 20.17% vs 50.82 ± 28.59%, p=0.048), decreased expression of CCR6 and CCR7 on CD4+ T cells (17.02 ± 12.43% vs 34.69 ± 18.58%, p=0.006; 20.28 ± 4.37% vs 25.45 ± 10.47%, p=0.025). Conclusions Chemokine receptors on T cell subsets are involved in the pathogenesis of acute GVHD. Expression of chemokine receptors can be used as a powerful marker for early diagnosis and differential diagnosis of acute GVHD. And targeting chemokine receptors might be the new direction of prevention and treatment of acute GVHD. Disclosures: No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.