Intervention of MAdCAM-1 or fractalkine alleviates graft-versus-host reaction associated intestinal injury while preserving graft-versus-tumor effects

J Leukoc Biol. 2007 Jan;81(1):176-85. doi: 10.1189/jlb.0306231. Epub 2006 Oct 19.

Abstract

Coincidence of the beneficial graft-vs.-tumor (GVT) effects and the detrimental graft-vs.-host disease (GVHD) remains the major obstacle against the widespread use of allogeneic bone marrow transplantation (BMT) as tumor immunotherapy. We here demonstrate that intervention of MAdCAM-1 (mucosal vascular addressin cell adhesion molecule-1) or fractalkine/CX3CL1 after the expansion of allo-reactive donor CD8 T cells selectively inhibits the recruitment of effector donor CD8 T cells to the intestine and alleviates the graft-vs.-host reaction (GVHR) associated intestinal injury without impairing GVT effects. In a nonirradiated acute GVHD model, donor CD8 T cells up-regulate the expression of intestinal homing receptor alpha4beta7 and chemokine receptors CXCR6 and CX3CR1, as they differentiate into effector cells and subsequently infiltrate into the intestine. Administration of anti-MAdCAM-1 antibody or anti-fractalkine antibody, even after the expansion of alloreactive donor CD8 T cells, selectively reduced the intestine-infiltrating donor CD8 T cells and the intestinal crypt cell apoptosis without affecting the induction of donor derived anti-host CTL or the infiltration of donor CD8 T cells in the hepatic tumor. Moreover, in a clinically relevant GVHD model with myeloablative conditioning, these antibodies significantly improved the survival and loss of weight without impairing the beneficial GVT effects. Thus, interruption of alpha4beta7-MAdCAM-1 or CX3CR1-fractalkine interactions in the late phase of GVHD would be a novel therapeutic approach for the separation of GVT effects from GVHR-associated intestinal injury.

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Antibodies / pharmacology
  • Biological Transport
  • CD8-Positive T-Lymphocytes / immunology
  • Cell Adhesion Molecules / physiology*
  • Chemokine CX3CL1
  • Chemokines, CX3C / immunology
  • Chemokines, CX3C / physiology*
  • Graft vs Host Disease / pathology*
  • Graft vs Host Reaction / immunology*
  • Graft vs Tumor Effect / immunology*
  • Intestines / immunology
  • Intestines / pathology*
  • Membrane Proteins / immunology
  • Membrane Proteins / physiology*
  • Mice
  • Mice, Inbred C57BL
  • Mucoproteins

Substances

  • Antibodies
  • Cell Adhesion Molecules
  • Chemokine CX3CL1
  • Chemokines, CX3C
  • Cx3cl1 protein, mouse
  • Madcam1 protein, mouse
  • Membrane Proteins
  • Mucoproteins