Expression of CD27 on peripheral CD4+ T-lymphocytes correlates with the development of severe acute graft-versus-host disease after allogeneic bone marrow transplantation.

Allogeneic immune responses during hematopoietic reconstitution play central roles in beneficial and adverse effects after allogeneic bone marrow transplantation (allo-BMT). Appropriate regulation of the immune responses might improve the outcome of allo-BMT. However, a useful marker for monitoring allogeneic immune responses remains to be established. We enrolled 22 consecutive patients who underwent myeloablative allo-BMT between March 2002 and March 2006 and examined the relationship between CD27 expression on peripheral blood T-lymphocytes, a possible marker for naive/effector phenotypes, and clinical events, especially acute graft-versus-host disease (aGVHD). In 8 patients with aGVHD of grades II to IV, the CD27+/CD27- ratios of CD4+ (but not CD8+) T-lymphocytes were significantly higher after allo-BMT, even at day 21, than the ratios in patients with aGVHD of grade 0 or I and remained high after day 21. In contrast, the ratios were low after day 21 following allo-BMT in 14 patients with aGVHD of grade 0 or I. Moreover, the clinical analysis suggested a relationship between the ratio and aGVHD grade. Thus, we showed that the CD27+/CD27- ratio in CD4+ T-lymphocytes may have value in predicting the development of severe aGVHD and may correlate with clinical symptoms of aGVHD.