Soluble urokinase plasminogen activator receptor during allogeneic stem cell transplantation

Previous studies have found that soluble urokinase plasminogen activation receptor (suPAR) increases during inflammatory and malignant illness and elevated suPAR levels may be associated with poor clinical outcome. The purpose of this study was to investigate plasma levels of suPAR during the course of allogeneic stem cell transplantation (SCT). Twenty SCT patients were included in the study. suPAR was measured by ELISA in daily taken plasma samples during the pretransplant conditioning with chemotherapy and weekly for 1 month after infusion of the graft. suPAR levels before the start of the conditioning were significantly elevated when compared to those of healthy controls. During the conditioning in particular treatment with antithymocyte globulin was associated with significantly increased suPAR levels (P = 0.012). At day +7 after infusion of the graft, suPAR levels had decreased to pretreatment levels. High suPAR levels at day 0 were associated with increased mortality (P = 0.011). The present study found increased suPAR levels during the conditioning in SCT patients. Further, the data indicated that increased suPAR levels may be associated with increased mortality, suggesting suPAR as a candidate for further studies as an outcome predictor in SCT.