Decreasing Chronic Graft-Versus-Host Disease rates in all populations.

Since 2005 there has been steady decline in chronic graft-versus-host disease (cGVHD) at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center (FHCC). To better understand this phenomenon, we studied the risk of cGVHD requiring systemic immunosuppression (cGVHD-IS) as a function of hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT)-date in 3066 survivors from 2005 through 2019. Cox regression models were fit to assess associations of HCT-date (as a continuous linear variable) with cause-specific hazards of cGVHD, using unadjusted and adjusted models. Median follow-up for study subjects was 7.0 years (range, 1.0-17.2). Two-year probabilities of cGVHD-IS declined among all survivors from 45-52% (2005-2007) to approximately 40% (2008-2012) and then further to ~26% by 2017. A decline was also observed when the analysis was restricted to 502 pediatric survivors, with cGVHD-IS probabilities being <10% since 2013. Among 305 adult and pediatric survivors who were transplanted for nonmalignant diseases, cGVHD rates showed greater fluctuation but remained <20% after 2016. Each 5-year increase in HCT-date was associated with a 27% decrease in the cause-specific hazard of cGVHD (unadjusted hazard ratio [HR] 0.73; 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.68-0.78, p<.0001); the HR was 0.81 (95% CI 0.75-0.87, p<.0001) even after adjusting for various factors (age, donor/stem-cell source, race, sex, conditioning intensity, GVHD prophylaxis, among others) that could lead to cGVHD reduction. The decline in cGVHD was not fully explained by demographic shifts and greater use of HCT approaches generally associated with lower cGVHD rates. This observation underscores that single-cohort cGVHD-prevention studies should use contemporaneous and not historical controls for comparisons.

Microbiota dictate T cell clonal selection to augment graft-versus-host disease after stem cell transplantation.

Allogeneic T cell expansion is the primary determinant of graft-versus-host disease (GVHD), and current dogma dictates that this is driven by histocompatibility antigen disparities between donor and recipient. This paradigm represents a closed genetic system within which donor T cells interact with peptide-major histocompatibility complexes (MHCs), though clonal interrogation remains challenging due to the sparseness of the T cell repertoire. We developed a Bayesian model using donor and recipient T cell receptor (TCR) frequencies in murine stem cell transplant systems to define limited common expansion of T cell clones across genetically identical donor-recipient pairs. A subset of donor CD4+ T cell clonotypes differentially expanded in identical recipients and were microbiota dependent. Microbiota-specific T cells augmented GVHD lethality and could target microbial antigens presented by gastrointestinal epithelium during an alloreactive response. The microbiota serves as a source of cognate antigens that contribute to clonotypic T cell expansion and the induction of GVHD independent of donor-recipient genetics.

Calcineurin inhibition rescues alloantigen-specific central memory T cell subsets that promote chronic GVHD.

Calcineurin inhibitors (CNIs) constitute the backbone of modern acute graft-versus-host disease (aGVHD) prophylaxis regimens but have limited efficacy in the prevention and treatment of chronic GVHD (cGVHD). We investigated the effect of CNIs on immune tolerance after stem cell transplantation with discovery-based single-cell gene expression and T cell receptor (TCR) assays of clonal immunity in tandem with traditional protein-based approaches and preclinical modeling. While cyclosporin and tacrolimus suppressed the clonal expansion of CD8+ T cells during GVHD, alloreactive CD4+ T cell clusters were preferentially expanded. Moreover, CNIs mediated reversible dose-dependent suppression of T cell activation and all stages of donor T cell exhaustion. Critically, CNIs promoted the expansion of both polyclonal and TCR-specific alloreactive central memory CD4+ T cells (TCM) with high self-renewal capacity that mediated cGVHD following drug withdrawal. In contrast to posttransplant cyclophosphamide (PT-Cy), CSA was ineffective in eliminating IL-17A-secreting alloreactive T cell clones that play an important role in the pathogenesis of cGVHD. Collectively, we have shown that, although CNIs attenuate aGVHD, they paradoxically rescue alloantigen-specific TCM, especially within the CD4+ compartment in lymphoid and GVHD target tissues, thus predisposing patients to cGVHD. These data provide further evidence to caution against CNI-based immune suppression without concurrent approaches that eliminate alloreactive T cell clones.

TIM-3+ CD8 T cells with a terminally exhausted phenotype retain functional capacity in hematological malignancies.

Chronic antigen stimulation is thought to generate dysfunctional CD8 T cells. Here, we identify a CD8 T cell subset in the bone marrow tumor microenvironment that, despite an apparent terminally exhausted phenotype (TPHEX), expressed granzymes, perforin, and IFN-γ. Concurrent gene expression and DNA accessibility revealed that genes encoding these functional proteins correlated with BATF expression and motif accessibility. IFN-γ+ TPHEX effectively killed myeloma with comparable efficacy to transitory effectors, and disease progression correlated with numerical deficits in IFN-γ+ TPHEX. We also observed IFN-γ+ TPHEX within CD19-targeted chimeric antigen receptor T cells, which killed CD19+ leukemia cells. An IFN-γ+ TPHEX gene signature was recapitulated in TEX cells from human cancers, including myeloma and lymphoma. Here, we characterize a TEX subset in hematological malignancies that paradoxically retains function and is distinct from dysfunctional TEX found in chronic viral infections. Thus, IFN-γ+ TPHEX represent a potential target for immunotherapy of blood cancers.

Care Coordination in a SARS-CoV-2-infected Child With Newly Diagnosed Medulloblastoma and Fanconi Anemia.

COVID-19, caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), is responsible for a global pandemic that can cause severe infections in children, especially those with comorbid conditions. Here, we report a case of a child with a newly diagnosed medulloblastoma, Fanconi Anemia, and SARS-CoV-2 infection. Through multidisciplinary care coordination and meticulous planning, we were able to safely initiate this patient's oncology care and implement a long-term model to address the patient's care. This approach could be replicated with any newly diagnosed pediatric patient that requires monitoring for signs of COVID-19 with concurrent oncology care.

Hematopoiesis sculpted by pathogens: Toll-like receptors and inflammatory mediators directly activate stem cells.

Hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) repopulate the immune system during normal replenishment as well as under the burden of pathogen stress, but the respective outcomes of differentiation are not the same. Under homeostatic conditions such as those which accompany turnover of immune cell subsets, HSCs appear to co-equally prime genes associated with the major downstream lineages: lymphoid, myeloid, and megakaryocyte/erythroid. Recent studies reveal, however, that during pathogen exposure, hematopoiesis may yield progeny in proportions different than those produced under homeostasis. At least some of these effects may be due to pathogen engagement of Toll-like receptors (TLRs) expressed on HSCs. HSCs are also responsive to inflammatory cytokines that are produced in response to pathogen burden and are present in the bone marrow microenvironment. Thus, hematopoiesis is not a formulaic process that produces the same, predictable outcome regardless of the specific environmental context. Rather, hematopoiesis represents a dynamic biological system that can be appreciably responsive to environmental factors, an influence that extends to the level of the HSC itself. Knowledge of functional consequences of TLR ligation on HSCs may be therapeutically exploited and applied to treatment of hematopoietic insufficiency in the setting of infection and disease.