Survival and GVHD incidence among Balb-c mice receiving transplantation with or without 5-azaC. (A) Kaplan-Meier curves representing overall survival of mice after a dose of 10 × 106 splenocytes (i) or 5 × 106 splenocytes (ii). In both models the addition of the drug significantly improved survival. (B) Evolution of weight loss (i), hunching (ii), activity (iii), fur texture (iv), and skin integrity (v), along the period of observation. Statistically significant differences were observed for all parameters analyzed between the groups receiving splenocytes versus splenocytes plus 5-azaC (P < .05). (C) Dot plots demonstrating chimerism studies in transplanted mice; the percentage of CD45+ cells within the BM was similar among mice receiving (i) BM (mean percentage: 48%), (ii) BM plus splenocytes (44%), and (iii) BM plus splenocytes and 5-azaC (46%). In addition, the percentage of CD34+ cells within hematopoietic cells was not significantly different in BM upon comparing mice receiving BM (0.3%), BM plus splenocytes (0.22%), or BM plus splenocytes and 5-azaC (0.13%). Finally, the percentage of T cells (identified on the basis of their high expression of CD45, see supplemental Figure 3) among hematopoietic cells in BM was lower among mice receiving 5-azaC (0.8%) compared with those mice receiving BM plus splenocytes (1.68%) or BM cells (0.97%; P = .05 for the comparison between mice receiving splenocytes with or without 5-azaC); A representative case of 5 cases analyzed is shown.
