LAUSR.org creates dashboard-style pages of related content for over 1.5 million academic articles. Sign Up to like articles & get recommendations!

Expansion of circulating extrafollicular helper T-like cells in patients with chronic graft-versus-host disease.

Photo from wikipedia

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… Click to show full 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 (CD44hiCD62LloPSGL-1loCD4+, 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.

Keywords: extrafollicular helper; like cells; cells patients; extrafollicular like; chronic graft

Journal Title: Journal of autoimmunity
Year Published: 2019

Link to full text (if available)


Share on Social Media:                               Sign Up to like & get
recommendations!

Related content

More Information              News              Social Media              Video              Recommended



                Click one of the above tabs to view related content.