2. Academic Validation
  3. The Ex Vivo Treatment of Donor T Cells with Cosalane, an HIV Therapeutic and Small-Molecule Antagonist of CC-Chemokine Receptor 7, Separates Acute Graft-versus-Host Disease from Graft-versus-Leukemia Responses in Murine Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation Models

The Ex Vivo Treatment of Donor T Cells with Cosalane, an HIV Therapeutic and Small-Molecule Antagonist of CC-Chemokine Receptor 7, Separates Acute Graft-versus-Host Disease from Graft-versus-Leukemia Responses in Murine Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation Models

  • Biol Blood Marrow Transplant. 2019 Jun;25(6):1062-1074. doi: 10.1016/j.bbmt.2019.01.022.
Kenneth A Fowler 1,  Kelin Li 2,  Christopher B Whitehurst 3,  Danny W Bruce 1,  Nathaniel J Moorman 3,  Jeffrey Aubé 2,  James M Coghill 4
Affiliations

Affiliations

  • 1 Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
  • 2 Eshelman School of Pharmacy, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
  • 3 Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina; Department of Microbiology and Immunology, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
  • 4 Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina; Department of Internal Medicine, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Electronic address: [email protected].
PMID: 30668984 DOI: 10.1016/j.bbmt.2019.01.022
Abstract

Despite recent advances in therapy, allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) remains the only curative option for a range of high-risk hematologic malignancies. However, acute graft-versus-host disease (aGVHD) continues to limit the long-term success of HSCT, and new therapies are still needed. We previously demonstrated that aGVHD depends on the ability of donor conventional T cells (Tcons) to express the lymph node trafficking receptor, CC-Chemokine Receptor 7 (CCR7). Consequently, we examined the ability of cosalane, a recently identified CCR7 small-molecule antagonist, to attenuate aGVHD in mouse HSCT model systems. Here we show that the systemic administration of cosalane to transplant recipients after allogeneic HSCT did not prevent aGVHD. However, we were able to significantly reduce aGVHD by briefly incubating donor Tcons with cosalane ex vivo before transplantation. Cosalane did not result in Tcon toxicity and did not affect their activation or expansion. Instead, cosalane prevented donor Tcon trafficking into host secondary lymphoid tissues very early after transplantation and limited their subsequent accumulation within the liver and colon. Cosalane did not appear to impair the intrinsic ability of donor Tcons to produce inflammatory cytokines. Furthermore, cosalane-treated Tcons retained their graft-versus-leukemia (GVL) potential and rejected a murine P815 inoculum after transplantation. Collectively, our data indicate that a brief application of cosalane to donor Tcons before HSCT significantly reduces aGVHD in relevant preclinical models while generally sparing beneficial GVL effects, and that cosalane might represent a viable new approach for aGVHD prophylaxis.

Keywords

Acute Graft-versus-Host Disease; CC-Chemokine Receptor 7; Cosalane; Graft-versus-Leukemia.

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