Reconstitution of peripheral blood lymphocytes in patients submitted to bone marrow transplantation:: comparison between allogeneic and autologous

BACKGROUND: This study compares the immune reconstitution of total T cells, CD4 and CD8 cell subsets, activated T cells, NK cells and B cells in 66 patients who underwent allogeneic or autologous bone marrow transplantation (BMT). PATIENTS, MATERIAL AND METHODS: The reconstitution of peripheral lymphocytes subsets was studied using two-color flow cytometry. The study group consisted of 39 patients who received allogeneic BMT compared with 27 patients who received autologous BMT. Peripheral blood was examined at different time intervals. As a measure of immune function, the response to the mitogen phytohemaglutinin (PHA) was determined. RESULTS:The pattern of recovery of CD3(+), CD4(+) and CD8(+) T cells, as well as the PHA response, was similar for each type of transplant. CD3(+)CD5(-) cells were significantly higher following autologous BMT than after allogeneic BMT and during more time. An overexpression of DR on T cells following autologous or allogeneic BMT demonstrates an increasing degree of T-lymphocyte activation. This activated T-cell subset was more stable in patients transplanted with allogeneic BM than in patients treated with autologous BM. The levels of total B cells and CD19(+)CD5(+) B-cells were increased during 2 to 12 months following autologous MET, remaining normal afterwards; in contrast, the levels of CD19(+) lymphocytes and CD19(+)CD5(+)B-cells remained higher than normal ranges until 36 months in patients transplanted with allogeneic BM. The percentage of NK cells was significantly increased following both autologous and allogeneic BMT. The highest percentage of NK cells were detected about 2 and 6 months post-transplant in patients treated with autologous or allogeneic BM, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Allogeneic BMT appears to induce a slight delay recovery of B and NK cells in comparison to autologous BMT, In contrast, T-cells recovery was similar for each type of transplant, although a higher percentage of CD3(+)CD5(-) T cells and a faster recovery of activated CD3(+)DR(+) cells to normal levels were observed in patients transplanted with autologous BM.