[GVHD: pathophysiology and novel agents].

ABSTRACT

Graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) is a potentially life-threatening complication of allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-SCT). Recent advances in understanding the GVHD pathophysiology promoted development of novel therapeutic agents for GVHD. In acute GVHD, emerging evidence suggested that it targets tissue stem cells in the skin, liver, and gut, resulting in treatment refractoriness. Furthermore, antimicrobial peptide deficiency, nutritional status alteration of the gut microbiota, and antibiotic administration lead to gut dysbiosis, which is related to GVHD onset and treatment-related mortality after allo-SCT. In this review, recent advances in understanding the GVHD pathophysiology are summarized, and novel agents for the treatment and prophylaxis of acute and chronic GVHD are introduced.