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Updated: Jan 8, 2026
Expression of Exogenous Cytokine in Patient-derived Xenografts via Injection with a Cytokine-transduced Stromal Cell Line
Published on: May 10, 2017
Elevated plasma CXCL9 and CHI3L1 prior to HCT predict post-HCT lung complications in children
Hannah Walker1,2,3, Liam Gubbels3, Gabrielle M Haeusler2,3,4,5,6,7
1Children's Cancer Centre Royal Children's Hospital Parkville VIC Australia.
Objectives:
Lung complications occur commonly post-haematopoietic stem cell transplant (HCT) in children and contribute significantly to mortality. The development of biomarkers predictive of post-HCT lung complications may improve outcomes for these children. Therefore, the primary objective of this study was to identify pre-transplant plasma biomarkers predictive of lung complications in children undergoing HCT.
Methods:
Plasma samples from 117 pre-HCT patients were used to measure 78 soluble immune analytes, and extensive clinical metadata were retrospectively collected from the electronic medical record, including clinical characteristics of the post-HCT lung complications.
Results:
Firstly, we showed that the plasma cytokine signature of children undergoing HCT differed significantly between children depending on the indication for HCT (malignant vs non-malignant). Secondly, we found that the plasma cytokine signature changed with the age of the patient. Thirdly, we showed that elevated pre-HCT plasma levels of CXCL9 and Chitinase 3-like 1, both induced by IFN-γ, were predictive of post-HCT lung complications in patients with a malignant indication for HCT [area under the curve (AUC): 0.70, P = 0.0007 and AUC: 0.68, P = 0.0016, respectively].
Conclusion:
In conclusion, we have identified two potential biomarkers of post-HCT lung disease in paediatric patients and these require validation in future cohorts.
