Differential effect of azidothymidine on resting and activated cells: potentiality of this drug for treatment of post-transfusion graft-versus-host disease.

The key factor for the treatment of post-transfusion graft-versus-host disease (PT-GVHD) is the successful eradication of donor-derived cytotoxic T cells (CTLs) which are thought to be a main cause of the disease, with no effects on either peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) or tissues of the recipient. In this study, we examined the effect of azidothymidine (AZT: Zidovudine) on resting PBMCs and cultured fibroblast cells which are assumed to be patient cells, and alloreactive CD8(+)-CTL clones which are imagined to be donor-derived activated CTLs, in vitro. We show here that AZT has no effect on resting PBMCs and cultured fibroblast cells, but greatly inhibited the growth of CTL clones.