Background: Allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT) has been established as an effective treatment for patients with hematological malignancies. Disease relapse remains a major cause of transplant failure.T cell homeostasis is critical to determine the potency of the GVT effect. Cytotoxic T lymphocyte antigen-4 (CTLA-4 or CD152) is a T cell activation negative regulator. Recent studies have shown the association of the CTLA-4 polymorphisms with the outcome after HLA-identical sibling allogeneic HSCT.

Patients and Methods: In this study, we focused on four CTLA-4 polymorphisms, and analyzed the impact of donor genotypes and haplotypes on the conditions of 154 acute leukemia patients after related HLA-haplotype-mismatched transplantation. The four SNP genotypes (-1661, -318, CT60 and +49) were determined by TaqMan SNP genotyping assays.

Results: Recipients of donors with +49 GG showed significantly lower OS (69.1% vs. 85.6%, P=0.024) and higher incidence of III-IV aGVHD (10.0% vs. 2.1%, P=0.032) than those with GA + AA(Fig.1,Fig.2). Multivariate analyses showed that +49GG was an independent risk factor for OS (HR:0.457,95%CI=0.227-0.920,P=0.028). Patients receiving mDLI showed significantly lower OS with +49 GG donor than those with AG+AA (P=0.011).The haplotype analysis revealed only three haplotypes in the donor population -1661/-318/CT60/+49 i.e.,ACGG,ACAA and GTGA,the frequencies were 64.3%, 19.5%, and 16.2%, respectively.Donors with and without the ACGG/ACGG haplotype had the same effect on transplant outcome as those with +49 GG and +49 AG+AA.

Conclusion: The CTLA-4 +49 GG and the haplotype ACGG/ACGG reduced the overall survival and increased the aGVHD after allo-HSCT from the related HLA-haplotype-mismatched donor,knowledge of the CTLA-4 polymorphism and haplotype may provide useful information for donor selection and individual application of immunosuppressive agents and immunotherapy.

CONFLICT OF INTEREST

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Disclosures

No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.

Author notes

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Asterisk with author names denotes non-ASH members.

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