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Induction and Scoring of Graft-Versus-Host Disease in a Xenogeneic Murine Model and Quantification of Human T Cells in Mouse Tissues using Digital PCR
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The thymus in GVHD pathophysiology

Werner Krenger1, Georg A Holländer

  • 1Laboratory of Pediatric Immunology, Department of Biomedicine, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland.

Best Practice & Research. Clinical Haematology
|May 28, 2008
PubMed

A favorable outcome of allogeneic hematopoietic stem-cell transplantation (HSCT) depends on the complete reconstitution of the host's immune system. While recovery of peripheral T cells occurs in transplant recipients via both thymus-dependent and thymus-independent pathways, the regeneration of a population of phenotypically naive T cells with a broad T-cell receptor (TCR) repertoire relies entirely on the de novo generation of T cells in the thymus. However, preclinical models and clinical studies of allogeneic HSCT have identified the thymus as a target of graft-versus-host disease (GVHD). The present review focuses on recent insight into how GVHD affects thymic function and how this knowledge aides the design of new strategies to improve immune reconstitution following allogeneic HSCT.

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