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Cancer research has led to unprecedented advances in treatment in recent decades. Physician-scientists have played a crucial role in these advances given their unique perspective at the intersection between basic research and clinical care, though their representation in cancer research has been in progressive decline. Cancer research programs that feature strong mentorship at the medical student level are associated with increased likelihood of alumni choosing a cancer research career path. In an effort to increase the cancer research medical student training pipeline, senior research faculty from the Tisch Cancer Institute (TCI) at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (ISMMS) developed the TCI Scholars Program, a rigorous mentored research training program funding medical students' summer research. This program is currently in its third year and has garnered significant interest among mentors and students alike from all four TCI Cancer Center Support Grant (CCSG)-funded research programs. Herein, we describe the development, implementation, evaluation, and major outcomes of this program.

The graft-versus-leukemia (GVL) effect after allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplant (HCT) can prevent relapse but the risk of severe graft-vs-host disease (GVHD) leads to prolonged intensive immunosuppression and possible blunting of the GVL effect. Strategies to reduce immunosuppression in order to prevent relapse have been offset by increases in severe GVHD and non-relapse mortality (NRM). We recently validated the MAGIC algorithm probability (MAP) that predicts the risk for severe GVHD and NRM in asymptomatic patients using serum biomarkers. In this study we tested whether the MAP could identify patients whose risk for relapse is higher than their risk for severe GVHD and NRM. The multicenter study population (n=1604) was divided into two cohorts: historical (2006–2015, n=702) and current (2015–2017, n=902) with similar non-relapse mortality, relapse, and survival. On day 28 post-HCT, patients who had not developed GVHD (75% of the population) and who possessed a low MAP were at much higher risk for relapse (24%) than severe GVHD and NRM (16% and 9%); this difference was even more pronounced in patients with a high disease risk index (relapse 33%, NRM 9%). Such patients are good candidates to test relapse prevention strategies that might enhance GVL.

INTRODUCTION: Acute Graft-versus-Host Disease (GVHD) is the major toxicity of allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT). Systemic steroids are the standard primary treatment but only half of patients will respond completely and the survival of steroid-refractory patients is poor. The gastrointestinal (GI) tract is a key target organ that usually determines a patient’s response to therapy. Serum biomarkers (ST2 and REG3a) predict response to therapy better than the standard Grade I-IV clinical severity scale and identify one third of patients who have significant GI crypt damage. These biomarkers also identify low risk patients who may be treated with new strategies that avoid broad immunosuppression. AREAS COVERED: This review summarizes the use of clinical grading systems and biomarkers in GVHD treatment and highlights pathophysiologic phases of acute GVHD as context for the mechanisms of action and therapeutic targets of various approaches such as JAK inhibitors. We then summarize the most important current clinical trials according to their targeting strategies. We reviewed >100 publications and performed a search of ongoing, current clinical trials on the emerging therapeutic targets for prophylaxis and treatment of acute GVHD. Search databases included clinicaltrials.gov and PUBMED. Search terms and keywords included “acute graft-versus-host disease,” “GVHD,” “graft versus host,” “treatment.” EXPERT OPINION: Future strategies will employ a risk-adapted therapy using biomarkers, which more accurately predict 6-month NRM (see figure 1). Strategies for high risk patients will inhibit GI tract damage either by selective targeting of effectors (e.g. inhibition of JAK signaling in T cells, blockade of trafficking through mAbs against integrin receptors, or enhancement of target cell survival through addition of growth factors such as IL-22) ; future strategies for low risk patients will reduce immunosuppression to avoid risks of infections and relapse.

PURPOSE Severe (grade 3-4) acute graft-versus-host disease (AGVHD) is a major cause of death after unrelated-donor (URD) hematopoietic cell transplant (HCT), resulting in particularly high mortality after HLA-mismatched transplantation. There are no approved agents for AGVHD prevention, underscoring the critical unmet need for novel therapeutics. ABA2 was a phase II trial to rigorously assess safety, efficacy, and immunologic effects of adding T-cell costimulation blockade with abatacept to calcineurin inhibitor (CNI)/methotrexate (MTX)-based GVHD prophylaxis, to test whether abatacept could decrease AGVHD. METHODS ABA2 enrolled adults and children with hematologic malignancies under two strata: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled stratum (8/8-HLA-matched URD), comparing CNI/MTX plus abatacept with CNI/MTX plus placebo, and a single-arm stratum (7/8-HLA-mismatched URD) comparing CNI/MTX plus abatacept versus CNI/MTX CIBMTR controls. The primary end point was day +100 grade 3-4 AGVHD, with day +180 severe-AGVHD-free-survival (SGFS) a key secondary end point. Sample sizes were calculated using a higher type-1 error (0.2) as recommended for phase II trials, and were based on predicting that abatacept would reduce grade 3-4 AGVHD from 20% to 10% (8/8s) and 30% to 10% (7/8s). ABA2 enrolled 142 recipients (8/8s, median follow-up = 716 days) and 43 recipients (7/8s, median follow-up = 708 days). RESULTS In 8/8s, grade 3-4 AGVHD was 6.8% (abatacept) versus 14.8% (placebo) ( P = .13, hazard ratio = 0.45). SGFS was 93.2% (CNI/MTX plus abatacept) versus 82% (CNI/MTX plus placebo, P = .05). In the smaller 7/8 cohort, grade 3-4 AGVHD was 2.3% (CNI/MTX plus abatacept, intention-to-treat population), which compared favorably with a nonrandomized matched cohort of CNI/MTX (30.2%, P < .001), and the SGFS was better (97.7% v 58.7%, P < .001). Immunologic analysis revealed control of T-cell activation in abatacept-treated patients. CONCLUSION Adding abatacept to URD HCT was safe, reduced AGVHD, and improved SGFS. These results suggest that abatacept may substantially improve AGVHD-related transplant outcomes, with a particularly beneficial impact on HLA-mismatched HCT.

Steroid-refractory (SR) acute graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) remains a major cause of nonrelapse mortality (NRM) after allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT), but its occurrence is not accurately predicted by pre-HCT clinical risk factors. The Mount Sinai Acute GVHD International Consortium (MAGIC) algorithm probability (MAP) identifies patients who are at high risk for developing SR GVHD as early as 7 days after HCT based on the extent of intestinal crypt damage as measured by the concentrations of 2 serum biomarkers, suppressor of tumorigenesis 2 and regenerating islet-derived 3α. We conducted a multicenter proof-of-concept “preemptive” treatment trial of α-1-antitrypsin (AAT), a serine protease inhibitor with demonstrated activity against GVHD, in patients at high risk for developing SR GVHD. Patients were eligible if they possessed a high-risk MAP on day 7 after HCT or, if initially low risk, became high risk on repeat testing at day 14. Thirty high-risk patients were treated with twice-weekly infusions of AAT for a total of 16 doses, and their outcomes were compared with 90 high-risk near-contemporaneous MAGIC control patients. AAT treatment was well tolerated with few toxicities, but it did not lower the incidence of SR GVHD compared with controls (20% vs 14%, P = .56). We conclude that real-time biomarker-based risk assignment is feasible early after allogeneic HCT but that this dose and schedule of AAT did not change the incidence of SR acute GVHD. This trial was registered at www.clinicaltrials.gov as #NCT03459040.

The efficacy of allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT) is limited by acute and chronic graft-versus-host disease (GVHD). The impact of obesity on allo-HSCT outcomes is poorly understood. Here, we report that obesity had a negative and selective impact on acute gut GVHD after allo-HSCT in mice with diet-induced obesity (DIO). These animals exhibited increased gut permeability, endotoxin translocation across the gut, and radiation-induced gastrointestinal damage after allo-HSCT. After allo-HSCT, both male and female DIO mouse recipients showed increased pro-inflammatory cytokine production and expression of the GVHD marker ST2 (IL-33R) and MHC class II molecules; they also exhibited decreased survival associated with acute severe gut GVHD. This rapid onset, obesity-associated gut GVHD depended on donor CD4(+) T cells and occurred even with a minor MHC mismatch between donor and recipient animals. Retrospective analysis of clinical cohorts who received allo-HSCT transplants from unrelated donors revealed that recipients with a high body mass index (BMI > 30) had reduced survival and higher serum ST2 concentrations compared to non-obese transplant recipients. Assessment of both DIO mice and allo-HSCT recipients with a high BMI revealed reduced gut microbiota diversity and decreased Clostridiaceae abundance. Prophylactic antibiotic treatment protected DIO mouse recipients from endotoxin translocation across the gut and increased inflammatory cytokine production, as well as gut pathology and mortality but did not protect against later development of chronic skin GVHD. These results suggest that obesity-induced alterations of the gut microbiota may impact GVHD after allo-HSCT in DIO mice, which could be ameliorated by prophylactic antibiotic treatment.

Clinical- and biomarker-based tools may identify a lower-risk acute graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) population amenable to novel, reduced-intensity treatments. Previous data suggest sirolimus may rival standard of care prednisone. We conducted a National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute/National Cancer Institute-funded Blood and Marrow Transplant Clinical Trials Network multicenter, open-label, randomized phase 2 trial to estimate the difference in day 28 complete response (CR)/partial response (PR) rates for sirolimus vs prednisone as initial treatment of patients with standard risk (SR) acute GVHD as defined by the Minnesota (MN) GVHD Risk Score and Ann Arbor (AA1/2) biomarker status. A total of 127 MN-SR patients were randomized (1:1), and 122 were AA1/2 (sirolimus, n = 58; prednisone, n = 64). Others were AA3 (n = 4), or AA status missing (n = 1). The day 28 CR/PR rates were similar for sirolimus 64.8% (90% confidence interval [CI], 54.1%-75.5%) vs 73% (90% CI, 63.8%-82.2%) for prednisone. The day 28 rate of CR/PR with prednisone ≤0.25 mg/kg/day was significantly higher for sirolimus than prednisone (66.7% vs 31.7%; P < .001). No differences were detected in steroid-refractory acute GVHD, disease-free survival, relapse, nonrelapse mortality, or overall survival. Sirolimus was associated with reduced steroid exposure and hyperglycemia, reduced grade 2 to 3 infections, improvement in immune suppression discontinuation and patient-reported quality of life, and increased risk for thrombotic microangiopathy. For patients with clinical- and biomarker-based SR acute GVHD, sirolimus demonstrates similar overall initial treatment efficacy as prednisone. In addition, sirolimus therapy spares steroid exposure and allied toxicity, does not compromise long-term survival outcomes, and is associated with improved patient-reported quality of life. This trial was registered at www.clinicaltrials.gov as #NCT02806947.

Acute graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) targets the crypts in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract that are responsible for the self-renewal of the intestinal mucosa. Recent advances in the identification and culture of intestinal stem cells have improved our understanding of the interactions between the microbiome and the immune system (both innate and adaptive) that are key to the pathophysiology of GVHD. The identification of serum biomarkers that best predict long-term GVHD outcomes derive from the GI tract and have focused attention on cellular elements that act as shields against GVHD as well as its targets. These biomarkers have illuminated new mechanisms of crypt biology and provided insights that should prove useful both in the design of clinical trials and as guides to GVHD prevention and treatment.

Microbiome-derived metabolites influence intestinal homeostasis and regulate graft-versus-host disease (GVHD), but the molecular mechanisms remain unknown. Here we show the metabolite sensor G-protein-coupled receptor 43 (GPR43) is important for attenuation of gastrointestinal GVHD in multiple clinically relevant murine models. GPR43 is critical for the protective effects of short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs), butyrate and propionate. Increased severity of GVHD in the absence of GPR43 is not due to baseline differences in the endogenous microbiota of the hosts. We confirm the ability of microbiome-derived metabolites to reduce GVHD by several methods, including co-housing, antibiotic treatment, and administration of exogenous SCFAs. The GVHD protective effect of SCFAs requires GPR43-mediated ERK phosphorylation and activation of the NLRP3 inflammasome in non-hematopoietic target tissues of the host. These data provide insight into mechanisms of microbial metabolite-mediated protection of target tissues from the damage caused allogeneic T cells., The microbial metabolite sensor GPR43 has been previously shown to be a crucial modulator of immune responses. Here the authors show GPR43 is required for controlling disease pathology severity in the context of experimental models of GVHD.

The Mount Sinai Acute GVHD International Consortium (MAGIC) algorithm probability (MAP), derived from 2 serum biomarkers, measures damage to crypts in the gastrointestinal tract during graft-versus-host disease (GVHD). We hypothesized that changes in MAP after treatment could validate it as a response biomarker. We prospectively collected serum samples and clinical stages of acute GVHD from 615 patients receiving hematopoietic cell transplantation in 20 centers at initiation of first-line systemic treatment and 4 weeks later. We computed MAPs and clinical responses and compared their abilities to predict 6-month nonrelapse mortality (NRM) in the validation cohort (n = 367). After 4 weeks of treatment, MAPs predicted NRM better than the change in clinical symptoms in all patients and identified 2 groups with significantly different NRM in both clinical responders (40% vs 12%, P < .0001) and nonresponders (65% vs 25%, P < .0001). MAPs successfully reclassified patients for NRM risk within every clinical grade of acute GVHD after 4 weeks of treatment. At the beginning of treatment, patients with a low MAP that rose above the threshold of 0.290 after 4 weeks of treatment had a significant increase in NRM, whereas patients with a high MAP at onset that fell below that threshold after treatment had a striking decrease in NRM that translated into clear differences in overall survival. We conclude that a MAP measured before and after treatment of acute GVHD is a response biomarker that predicts long-term outcomes more accurately than change in clinical symptoms. MAPs have the potential to guide therapy for acute GVHD and may function as a useful end point in clinical trials.

Amphiregulin (AREG) is an epidermal growth factor receptor ligand that can restore integrity to damaged intestinal mucosa in murine models of acute graft-versus-host disease (aGVHD). We previously reported that circulating AREG is elevated in late-onset aGVHD (occurring after 100 days posttransplant), but its clinical relevance in the context of aGVHD risk is unknown. We measured AREG in 251 aGVHD onset blood samples from Blood and Marrow Clinical Trials Network (BMT CTN) primary treatment trials and determined their association with GVHD severity, day 28 complete or partial response (CR/PR) to first-line therapy, overall survival (OS), and nonrelapse mortality (NRM). Every doubling of plasma AREG was associated with a 33% decrease in the odds of day 28 CR/PR (odds ratio [OR], 0.67; P < .01). An AREG threshold of 33 pg/mL or greater divided patients with Minnesota standard-risk (SR) aGVHD into a distinct group with a significantly lower likelihood of: day 28 CR/PR (72% vs 85%; P = .02); greater 2-year NRM (42% vs 15%; P < .01); and inferior OS (40% vs 66%; P < .01). High AREG ≥ 33 pg/mL also stratified patients with Minnesota high-risk (HR) aGVHD: day 28 CR/PR (54% vs 83%; P = .03) and 2-year NRM (53% vs 11%; P < .01), with a trend toward inferior 2-year OS (37% vs 60%; P = .09). High-circulating AREG (≥33 pg/mL) reclassifies patients into HR subgroups and thereby further refines the Minnesota aGVHD clinical risk score.

Acute graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) is treated with systemic corticosteroid immunosuppression. Clinical response after 1 week of therapy often guides further treatment decisions, but long-term outcomes vary widely among centers, and more accurate predictive tests are urgently needed. We analyzed clinical data and blood samples taken 1 week after systemic treatment of GVHD from 507 patients from 17 centers of the Mount Sinai Acute GVHD International Consortium (MAGIC), dividing them into a test cohort (n = 236) and 2 validation cohorts separated in time (n = 142 and n = 129). Initial response to systemic steroids correlated with response at 4 weeks, 1-year nonrelapse mortality (NRM), and overall survival (OS). A previously validated algorithm of 2 MAGIC biomarkers (ST2 and REG3α) consistently separated steroid-resistant patients into 2 groups with dramatically different NRM and OS (P < .001 for all 3 cohorts). High biomarker probability, resistance to steroids, and GVHD severity (Minnesota risk) were all significant predictors of NRM in multivariate analysis. A direct comparison of receiver operating characteristic curves showed that the area under the curve for biomarker probability (0.82) was significantly greater than that for steroid response (0.68, P = .004) and for Minnesota risk (0.72, P = .005). In conclusion, MAGIC biomarker probabilities generated after 1 week of systemic treatment of GVHD predict long-term outcomes in steroid-resistant GVHD better than clinical criteria and should prove useful in developing better treatment strategies.

Acute graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) is a major cause of mortality in patients undergoing hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) for hematologic malignancies. The skin is the most commonly involved organ in GVHD. Elafin, a protease inhibitor overexpressed in inflamed epidermis, was previously identified as a diagnostic biomarker of skin GVHD; however, this finding was restricted to a subset of patients with isolated skin GVHD. The main driver of nonrelapse mortality (NRM) in HCT recipients is gastrointestinal (GI) GVHD. Two biomarkers, Regenerating islet-derived 3a (REG3α) and Suppressor of tumorigenesis 2 (ST2), have been validated as biomarkers of GI GVHD that predict long-term outcomes in patients treated for GVHD. We undertook this study to determine the utility of elafin as a prognostic biomarker in the general population of acute GVHD patients in whom GVHD may develop in multiple organs. We analyzed serum elafin concentrations as a predictive biomarker of acute GVHD outcomes and compared it with ST2 and REG3α in a large group of patients treated at multiple centers. A total of 526 patients from the Mount Sinai Acute GVHD International Consortium (MAGIC) who had received corticosteroid treatment for skin GVHD and who had not been previously studied were analyzed. Serum concentrations of elafin, ST2, and REG3α were measured by ELISA in all patients. The patients were divided at random into equal training and validation sets, and a competing-risk regression model was developed to model 6-month NRM using elafin concentration in the training set. Additional models were developed using concentrations of ST2 and REG3α or the combination of all 3 biomarkers as predictors. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were constructed using the validation set to evaluate the predictive accuracy of each model and to stratify patients into high- and low-risk biomarker groups. The cumulative incidence of 6-month NRM, overall survival (OS), and 4-week treatment response were compared between the risk groups. Unexpectedly, patients in the low-risk elafin group demonstrated a higher incidence of 6-month NRM, although the difference was not statistically significant (17% versus 11%; P = .19). OS at 6 months (68% versus 68%; P > .99) and 4-week response (78% versus 78%; P = .98) were similar in the low-risk and high-risk elafin groups. The area under the ROC curve (AUC) was 0.55 for elafin and 0.75 for the combination of ST2 and REG3α. The addition of elafin to the other 2 biomarkers did not improve the AUC. Our data indicate that serum elafin concentrations measured at the initiation of systemic treatment for acute GVHD did not predict 6-month NRM, OS, or treatment response in a multicenter population of patients treated systemically for acute GVHD. As seen in previous studies, serum concentrations of the GI GVHD biomarkers ST2 and REG3α were significant predictors of NRM, and the addition of elafin levels did not improve their accuracy. These results underscore the importance of GI disease in driving NRM in patients who develop acute GVHD.

T-helper 1 and T-helper 17 lymphocytes mediate acute graft-versus-host disease (GvHD). Interleukin 12 is critical for T-helper 1 differentiation and interleukin 23 for T-helper 17 maintenance. Interleukin 12 and 23 are heterodimeric cytokines that share the p40 subunit (IL-12/IL-23p40). In a randomized, blinded, placebo-controlled trial, we examined the biological impact and clinical outcomes following IL-12/IL-23p40 neutralization using ustekinumab. Thirty patients received peripheral blood mobilized hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) from HLA-matched sibling or unrelated donors, received sirolimus plus tacrolimus as GvHD prophylaxis, and were randomized to ustekinumab versus placebo with 1:1 allocation after stratification by donor type. The primary end point of the trial was the mean percentage (%) T-regulatory (Treg) cells on day 30 post HCT. Ustekinumab was delivered by subcutaneous injection on day −1 and day +20 after transplantation. On day 30 post transplant, no significant difference in % Treg was observed. Ustekinumab suppressed serum IL-12/IL-23p40 levels. Host-reactive donor alloresponse at days 30 and 90 after transplantation was polarized with significant reduction in IL-17 and IFN-α production and increase in IL-4. No toxicity attributed to ustekinumab was observed. Overall survival and National Institute of Health moderate/severe chronic GvHD-free, relapse-free survival were significantly improved among ustekinumab-treated patients. No significant improvements were observed in acute or chronic GvHD, relapse, or non-relapse mortality. These data provide first evidence that IL-12/IL-23p40 neutralization can polarize donor anti-host alloresponse in vivo and provide initial clinical efficacy evidence to be tested in subsequent trials. (Trial registered at clinicaltrials.gov identifier: 01713400.)

A xenograft model of stem cell rejection was developed by co-transplantating human CD34+ and allogeneic CD3+ T cells into NOD-scid ɣ-chainnull mice. T cells caused graft failure when transplanted at any CD34/CD3 ratio between 1:50 and 1:.1. Kinetics experiments showed that 2 weeks after transplantation CD34+ cells engrafted the marrow and T cells expanded in the spleen. Then, at 4 weeks only memory T cells populated both sites and rejected CD34+ cells. Blockade of T cell costimulation was tested by injecting the mice with abatacept (CTLA4-IgG1) from day –1 to +27 (group A), from day –1 to +13 (group B), or from day +14 to +28 (group C). On day +56 groups B and C had rejected the graft, whereas in group A graft failure was completely prevented, although with lower stem cell engraftment than in controls (P = .03). Retransplantation of group A mice with same CD34+ cells obtained a complete reconstitution of human myeloid and B cell lineages and excluded latent alloreactivity. In this first xenograft model of stem cell rejection we showed that transplantation of HLA mismatched CD34+ cells may be facilitated by treatment with abatacept and late stem cell boost.

Background: A major cause of mortality in patients receiving hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HCT) is acute graft-versus-host disease (GVHD), a multiorgan disorder that includes the skin, liver and gastrointestinal tract. We have previously identified elafin, a protease inhibitor overexpressed in inflamed epidermis, as a diagnostic biomarker of GVHD in the skin, the most commonly involved GVHD organ. However, our initial study was limited to a subset of patients with isolated skin GVHD. The main driver of nonrelapse mortality (NRM) in HCT patients is GI GVHD. Two biomarkers, Regenerating islet-derived 3a (REG3α) and Suppressor of tumorigenesis 2 (ST2), have since been validated as biomarkers of GI GVHD that predict long-term outcomes in patients treated for GVHD. We undertook this study to determine the utility of elafin as a prognostic biomarker of acute GVHD in the general population of previously unstudied acute GVHD patients, and to compare it to ST2 and REG3α. Study Design: 526 patients who received systemic corticosteroid treatment for skin GVHD were analyzed from the Mount Sinai Acute GVHD International Consortium (MAGIC), which includes patients from 25 HCT centers. We used ELISA to measure serum concentrations of elafin, ST2 and REG3α. Patients were divided randomly into equal training and validation sets; and we developed a competing risk regression model for 6-month NRM using elafin concentration in the training set. We developed additional models for 6-month NRM using concentrations of ST2 and REG3α, or the combination of all three biomarkers as predictors. We then constructed ROC curves to evaluate the predictive accuracy of each model and to analyze the ability of each model to stratify patients into high- and low-risk groups. We analyzed the cumulative incidence of 6-month NRM and overall survival in each model and compared the accuracy of each model in the validation set. Results: The area under the receiver operating curve (AUROC) for elafin alone was 0.55 whereas it was 0.75 and statistically superior (P = 0.02) for the combination of ST2 and REG3α. The combination of 3 biomarkers produced an AUROC of 0.76 that was not significantly better than the two biomarker model (P = 0.10). Elafin concentrations, either alone or in combination with ST2 and REG3α, did not produce higher hazard ratios of NRM (data not shown). Patients in the low-risk elafin group paradoxically demonstrated a higher incidence of 6-month NRM, although this difference was not statistically significant (17% vs. 11%, P=0.19), and both overall survival at 6 months (68% vs. 68%, P>0.99) and four-week response (78% vs. 78%, P=0.98) were similar in the low- and high-risk elafin groups (Figure 1). As demonstrated in previous data sets, the combination of ST2 and REG3α divided patients into two groups with a nearly five-fold difference in NRM (6.7% vs. 31%, P Conclusion: We demonstrated that serum elafin concentrations measured at the initiation of systemic treatment for acute GVHD in a multicenter population of patients treated systemically for acute GVHD do not predict 6-month NRM, overall survival, or treatment response. As seen in previous studies, serum concentrations of the GI GVHD biomarkers ST2 and REG3α were significant predictors of NRM and the addition of elafin levels did not improve their accuracy. These results underscore the importance of GI disease in driving NRM in patients who develop acute GVHD. Figure 1. Cumulative incidence of nonrelapse mortality and overall survival in high and low risk groups Six-month cumulative incidences of nonrelapse mortality (NRM) in high (solid line) and low (dotted line) risk groups defined by optimized biomarker thresholds (upper panels) and six-month overall survival estimated using the Kaplan-Meier method (lower panels). (A) Cumulative incidence of NRM (14%) and overall survival (75%) in the total validation set (N=263). (B) Cumulative incidence of NRM in the low (N=150) and high (N=113) elafin group (17% vs. 11%, P=0.19). Overall survival in the low and high elafin group (68% vs. 68%, P > 0.99). (C) Cumulative incidence of NRM in the low (N=175) and high (N=88) ST2 + REG3a group (6.7 vs. 31%, P < 0.001). Overall survival in the low and high ST2 + REG3a group (77% vs. 51%, P < 0.001). (D) Cumulative incidence of NRM in the low (N=180) and high (N=83) elafin + ST2 + REG3a group (7.0 vs. 30%, P < 0.001). Overall survival in the low and high elafin + ST2 + REG3a group (79% vs. 64%, P < 0.001). Figure 1 Figure 1. Disclosures Ozbek: Viracor: Patents & Royalties: GVHD biomarker patent with royalties from Viracor. DeFilipp: Omeros, Corp.: Consultancy; Incyte Corp.: Research Funding; Regimmune Corp.: Research Funding; Syndax Pharmaceuticals, Inc: Consultancy. Grupp: Novartis, Kite, Vertex, and Servier: Research Funding; Jazz Pharmaceuticals: Consultancy, Other: Steering committee, Research Funding; Novartis, Roche, GSK, Humanigen, CBMG, Eureka, and Janssen/JnJ: Consultancy; Novartis, Adaptimmune, TCR2, Cellectis, Juno, Vertex, Allogene and Cabaletta: Other: Study steering committees or scientific advisory boards. Hexner: Blueprint medicines: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Research Funding; Tmunity Therapeutics: Research Funding; PharmaEssentia: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees. Kitko: Co-investigator on two NIH grants as part of the cGVHD consortium: Research Funding; Vanderbilt University Medical Center: Current Employment; PER: Other: PER - CME educational talks about GVHD; Horizon: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees. Qayed: Novartis: Honoraria; Mesoblast: Honoraria; Medexus: Honoraria. Reshef: ilead, BMS, Precision, Immatics, Atara, Takeda, Shire, Pharmacyclics, Incyte: Research Funding; Bayer: Consultancy; Gilead and Novartis: Honoraria; BMS, Regeneron, TScan, Synthekine, Atara, Jasper, Bayer: Consultancy. Levine: Incyte: Consultancy, Research Funding; Viracor: Patents & Royalties: GVHD biomarker patent with royalties from Viracor; Mesoblast: Consultancy, Research Funding; Equillium Bio: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; X4 Pharmaceuticals: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Talaris Therapeutics: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Jazz Pharmaceuticals: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Omeros: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Symbio: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Biogen: Research Funding; Kamada: Research Funding. Ferrara: Eurofins Viracor: Consultancy, Other: Royalties. Chen: Incyte: Consultancy; Gamida: Consultancy.

Lower gastrointestinal (GI) tract graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) is the predominant cause of morbidity and mortality from GVHD after allogeneic stem cell transplantation. Recent data indicate that lower GI tract GVHD is a complicated process mediated by donor/host antigenic disparities. This process is exacerbated by significant changes to the microbiome, and innate and adaptive immune responses that are critical to the induction of disease, persistence of inflammation, and a lack of response to therapy. Here, we discuss new insights into the biology of lower GI tract GVHD and focus on intrinsic pathways and regulatory mechanisms crucial to normal intestinal function. We then describe multiple instances in which these homeostatic mechanisms are altered by donor T cells or conditioning therapy, resulting in exacerbation of GVHD. We also discuss data suggesting that some of these mechanisms produce biomarkers that could be informative as to the severity of GVHD and its response to therapy. Finally, novel therapies that might restore homeostasis in the GI tract during GVHD are highlighted.

Late acute (LA) graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) is persistent, recurrent, or new-onset acute GVHD symptoms occurring >100 days after allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT). The aim of this analysis is to describe the onset, course, morbidity, and mortality of and examine angiogenic factors associated with LA GVHD. A prospective cohort of patients (n = 909) was enrolled as part of an observational study within the Chronic GVHD Consortium. Eighty-three patients (11%) developed LA GVHD at a median of 160 (interquartile range, 128-204) days after HCT. Although 51 out of 83 (61%) achieved complete or partial response to initial therapy by 28 days, median failure-free survival was only 7.1 months (95% confidence interval, 3.4-19.1 months), and estimated overall survival (OS) at 2 years was 56%. Given recently described alterations of circulating angiogenic factors in classic acute GVHD, we examined whether alterations in such factors could be identified in LA GVHD. We first tested cases (n = 55) and controls (n = 50) from the Chronic GVHD Consortium and then validated the findings in 37 cases from Mount Sinai Acute GVHD International Consortium. Plasma amphiregulin (AREG; an epidermal growth factor [EGF] receptor ligand) was elevated, and an AREG/EGF ratio at or above the median was associated with inferior OS and increased nonrelapse mortality in both cohorts. Elevation of AREG was detected in classic acute GVHD, but not chronic GVHD. These prospective data characterize the clinical course of LA GVHD and demonstrate alterations in angiogenic factors that make LA GVHD biologically distinct from chronic GVHD.

Reduced-intensity conditioning (RIC) regimens minimize early toxicity after allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) by placing greater reliance on establishing a graft-versus-leukemia effect (GVL). Because graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) and GVL are tightly linked, inhibition of T cell populations that cause GVHD may lead to an unintended increased risk of relapse in the RIC setting. Although not completely understood, etanercept and extracorporeal photopheresis (ECP) are thought to ameliorate GVHD without direct T cell inhibition. We hypothesized that adding these 2 agents to a standard GVHD prophylaxis regimen of tacrolimus and mycophenolate mofetil (MMF) would improve survival by reducing GVHD-related mortality without increasing relapse rates. Therefore, we conducted a prospective phase II clinical trial that incorporated tacrolimus, MMF, etanercept, and ECP as GVHD prophylaxis in 48 patients undergoing RIC unrelated donor transplantation. The preferred RIC was fludarabine 160 mg/m2 + busulfan 6.4 mg/kg to 12.8 mg/kg ± total body irradiation 200 cGy. Etanercept .4 mg/kg (maximum dose, 25 mg) was given subcutaneously twice weekly for 8 weeks after HCT and ECP was given for 12 treatments, starting weekly on day 28 weekly and tapering off by day 180. The median age of the study patients was 60 (range, 18 to 71) years. Donors were 7/8 (n = 14, 29%) or 8/8 (n = 34, 71%) HLA matched. All patients engrafted neutrophils at a median of 12 days. The cumulative incidence of grades II to IV acute GVHD at day 100 was 46%, but it was typically sensitive to initial steroid treatment (84% day 56 complete response/partial response rate). Overall survival at 1 year in this older, frequently mismatched unrelated donor setting was excellent (73%) because of low rates of nonrelapse mortality (21%) and relapse (19%). However, this strategy was not effective at preventing a high incidence of chronic GVHD and late deaths led to a drop in 2-year survival, declining to 56%, reflecting a high incidence of chronic GVHD.

Graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) continues to be the major lethal complication of allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HCT) but the standard of care, high dose steroids, has not changed in 40 years. Approximately 50% of GVHD patients will develop steroid refractory disease, typically involving the gastrointestinal (GI) tract, which has a very poor prognosis. Newly developed GVHD biomarker-based risk scores provide the first opportunity to treat patients at the onset of symptoms according to risk of steroid failure. Furthermore, improvements in our understanding of the pathobiology of GVHD, its different signaling pathways, involved cytokines, and the role of post-translational and epigenetic modifications, has identified new therapeutic targets for clinical trials.This manuscript summarizes the pathophysiology, diagnosis, staging, current and new targeted therapies for GVHD, with an emphasis on GI GVHD. A literature search on PubMed was undertaken and the most relevant references included.The standard treatment for GVHD, high dose steroids, offers less than optimal outcomes as well as significant toxicities. Better treatments, especially for GI GVHD, are needed to reduce non-relapse mortality after allogeneic HCT. The identification of high risk patients through a biomarker-defined scoring system offers a personalized approach to a disease that still requires significant research attention.

There are no validated biomarkers that measure a patient's response to therapy for acute graft-versus-host disease (GVHD), the leading cause of non-relapse mortality (NRM) after allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplant (HCT). Recent studies from the Mount Sinai Acute GVHD International Consortium (MAGIC) have validated an algorithm probability (MAP) that combines serum concentrations of two biomarkers of GVHD (REG3α and ST2) to generate an estimated probability of 6 month NRM for individual patients. The MAP estimates GVHD-mediated damage to crypts throughout the lower GI tract at single time points (Hartwell et al., JCI Insight, 2017; Major- Monfried et al., Blood, 2018). We hypothesized that the change in MAP between start of treatment and 28 days later could serve as a response biomarker and would compare favorably to clinical response, the gold standard which is widely used as a surrogate for long term survival and is the primary endpoint in most GVHD treatment trials (Martin et al., BBMT, 2009; MacMillan et al., Blood, 2010). We prospectively collected serum samples and clinical staging from 368 sequential HCT patients who received systemic treatment for acute GVHD in one of 20 MAGIC centers between January 2016 and February 2018. We computed MAPs and clinical responses for each patient. MAPs of patients who experienced 6 month NRM increased significantly compared to MAPs of patients who survived (p=0.0004). In patients whose initial MAPs were low (Ann Arbor 1, MAP 0.290), those who survived tended to have the largest decreases in MAP (Fig 1C). We found that patients whose MAPs rose above the previously determined high-risk threshold MAP of 0.290 had significantly worse survival compared to those who remained below it, whereas the large number patients with initially high MAPs that remained above the threshold had a large increase in mortality (Fig 2). When measured at day 28, MAPs predicted NRM more accurately than clinical responses, with areas under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) of 0.86 and 0.70, respectively (p We conclude that the MAP is, to our knowledge, the first laboratory test validated as a response biomarker for acute GVHD treatment and more accurately predicts survival than clinical response after 28 days of treatment. The MAP may serve as a novel endpoint in future trials of GVHD treatment.

Several international recommendations address the assessment of graft-versus-host disease (GvHD) after hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT). This position statement by GvHD experts from the European Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation (EBMT), the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research (CIBMTR) reviews the existing guidelines for both acute and chronic GvHD, addresses potential confusions that arise in daily practice and proposes consensus definitions for many key terms. We provide a historical perspective on the currently available guidelines and recommend the Mount Sinai Acute GvHD International Consortium (MAGIC) criteria for acute GvHD and the NIH 2014 criteria for chronic GvHD as the most comprehensive and detailed criteria available. This statement also offers practical guidance for the implementation of these recommendations and a set of consensus definitions for commonly used GvHD terms in order to facilitate future clinical and translational research. To assist the dissemination of these recommendations, a web-application based on this position statement is available ( https://www.uzleuven.be/egvhd ). We believe that adherence to a common set of GvHD assessment criteria is vitally important to improve the quality of data, compare results of retrospective studies and prospective clinical trials, and make therapeutic recommendations based on quality evidence. ispartof: BONE MARROW TRANSPLANTATION vol:53 issue:11 pages:1401-1415 ispartof: location:England status: published

Graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract remains the major cause of morbidity and nonrelapse mortality after BM transplantation (BMT). The Paneth cell protein regenerating islet-derived 3α (REG3α) is a biomarker specific for GI GVHD. REG3α serum levels rose in the systematic circulation as GVHD progressively destroyed Paneth cells and reduced GI epithelial barrier function. Paradoxically, GVHD suppressed intestinal REG3γ (the mouse homolog of human REG3α), and the absence of REG3γ in BMT recipients intensified GVHD but did not change the composition of the microbiome. IL-22 administration restored REG3γ production and prevented apoptosis of both intestinal stem cells (ISCs) and Paneth cells, but this protection was completely abrogated in Reg3g-/- mice. In vitro, addition of REG3α reduced the apoptosis of colonic cell lines. Strategies that increase intestinal REG3α/γ to promote crypt regeneration may offer a novel, nonimmunosuppressive approach for GVHD and perhaps for other diseases involving the ISC niche, such as inflammatory bowel disease.

Acute graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) is the major complication of allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation and is the primary cause of early non-relapse mortality (NRM) after transplant. GVHD of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract fuels the systemic inflammatory reaction and consequently is the principal driver of mortality. Recently, the MAGIC algorithm probability (MAP) that is computed from two biomarkers of GI GVHD has been validated to accurately predict risk of NRM throughout the course of early acute GVHD. This review focuses on the biology, clinical evidence, and practical application of the biomarkers in the measurement of acute GVHD.

Relapse is most common cause of death after HCT. However, given the heterogeneity of diseases and disease states among patients (pts), risk for relapse is often difficult to manage in clinical trials when survival is the endpoint. The Disease Risk Index (DRI) predicts overall survival (OS) based on pre-HCT disease characteristics such as type of disease, remission status, and cytogenetic abnormalities and can be used to group heterogeneous diseases into 4 risk strata: very high risk [VHR, 1% of pts], high risk [HR, 23%], intermediate risk [IR, 64%], and low risk [LR, 12%] (Armand, Blood, 2014). OS for each of these strata is distinctly different. The DRI has been validated for adults, but not for children. Furthermore, the DRI cannot be calculated for some pediatric diseases like juvenile myelomonocytic leukemia (JMML). To determine its validity for children we calculated the DRI for 280 pediatric pts transplanted between 2008 and 2018 at Mount Sinai Acute GVHD International Consortium centers. The median age was 8.9 years (range, 0.4 - 17). The most common indications for HCT were ALL (51%), AML (31%), MDS (10%), and JMML (4%). Donors were adult unrelated donors (48%), unrelated cord blood (20%), haploidentical donors (17%), and matched siblings (15%). We first determined 2y survival by DRI for the 270 pts without JMML. Survival for JMML was closest to the VHR strata and we grouped JMML with VHR for all further analyses. The size of each of the risk strata were different for children compared to adults, VHR (n=32, 11%), HR (n=108, 39%), IR (n=128, 46%), and LR (n=12, 4%). Given the small number of LR pts, we excluded them from further analyses. We then determined that DRI effectively stratified pts into distinct strata for relapse (FIG 1A) and disease-free survival (FIG 1B). Because transplant practices are different for children compared to adults (e.g., more myeloablative conditioning), we examined whether DRI remained predictive of outcomes after adjustment for age, donor type, stem cell source, and conditioning intensity. We used IR as the reference group for these multivariate analyses. Children with HR DRI were significantly more likely to relapse (HR 2.1, 95% CI 1.2-3.7) and have worse DFS (HR 1.6, 95% CI 1.0-2.5). The risks for relapse and worse DFS were even greater for children with VHR DRI (relapse, HR 3.4, 95% CI 1.6-7.3, DFS 3.59, 95% CI 2.0-6.5). There were no significant differences in 2y non-relapse mortality by DRI. VHR pts had significantly worse 2y OS (HR 3.2, 95% CI 1.6-6.4) but HR pts were not significantly different for 2y OS than IR pts (HR 1.3, 95% CI 0.7-2.2). OS for HR and IR pts may diverge with longer follow-up. In summary, the LR strata is small and more pts are needed to determine their outcomes. However, for >95% of children the DRI creates 3 distinct risk strata. The DRI can be used in pediatric clinical trials to stratify for risk of relapse.

Acute GVHD biomarkers predict long-term outcomes after GVHD diagnosis. Our group has validated the MAGIC algorithm which uses the concentrations of 2 GVHD biomarkers, ST2+REG3a, to predict lethal GVHD (defined as death from GVHD without relapse) [Hartwell 2017]. Other published biomarker combinations that predict GVHD outcomes include ST2+ REG3a+TNFR1 [Levine 2015], ST2+TIM3 [Abu Zaid 2017], ST2+TNFR1 [McDonald 2015], TIM3+TNFR1+IL6 [McDonald 2015], as well as AREG alone [Holtan 2018]. It is not clear which biomarker combination best predicts lethal GVHD because these algorithms were developed using different patient cohorts with different endpoints. To answer this question, we compared the predictive accuracy of different biomarker combinations as well as these six specific combinations in the same patient cohort. We studied 522 patients with serum samples at GVHD diagnosis who were transplanted at 19 Mount Sinai Acute GVHD International Consortium (MAGIC) centers between January 1, 2004 and April 30, 2017. Patients were divided into training (n = 253) and validation (n = 269) sets; validation patients were transplanted after November 1, 2015 and had not previously been used to generate an algorithm. Biomarkers were measured by ELISA and log-transformed values were used to predict 1-year lethal GVHD by competing risk regression. Four of the 6 biomarkers (ST2, REG3a, TNFR1, and TIM3) independently predicted lethal GVHD in the training set. We then developed algorithms that predicted lethal GVHD using all possible combinations of these 4 biomarkers as well as the published combination of TIM3+TNFR1+IL6 and AREG alone. The best algorithms of 1-4 biomarkers for predicting lethal GVHD were REG3a alone, ST2+REG3a, ST2+REG3a+TNFR1, and ST2+REG3a+TNFR1+TIM3. While ST2+REG3a was the most accurate combination based on the lowest Akaike Information Criterion (AIC), the other published biomarker combinations produced similar AICs. Therefore, we used the independent validation set to compare all six published algorithms. We generated area under the receiver operating characteristic curves (AUC) for each algorithm (FIG 1). We next determined the threshold that maximized sensitivity and specificity for each algorithm and calculated the cumulative incidence of lethal GVHD in the resulting high and low risk strata (FIG 2). Highly similar results were obtained when the cumulative incidence of non-relapse mortality was used as the endpoint. In a validation set of previously unanalyzed patients, several biomarker combinations reproducibly stratified patients with GVHD for risk of death. The best 4 algorithms, all of which included ST2, produced comparable outcomes. Adding TNFR1 to ST2+ REG3a did not improve accuracy. The ST2+REG3a algorithm best identifies patients at onset of GVHD for high risk of lethal GVHD and NRM, and thus remains a standard for biomarker-based risk prediction.

Graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) is the major cause of non-relapse mortality after allogeneic haemopoietic stem-cell transplantation (SCT). The severity of symptoms at the onset of GVHD does not accurately define risk, and thus most patients are treated alike with high dose systemic corticosteroids. We aimed to define clinically meaningful risk strata for patients with newly diagnosed acute GVHD using plasma biomarkers.Between April 13, 2000, and May 7, 2013, we prospectively collected plasma from 492 SCT patients with newly diagnosed acute GVHD and randomly assigned (2:1) using a random number generator, conditional on the final two datasets having the same median day of onset, into training (n=328) and test (n=164) sets. We used the concentrations of three recently validated biomarkers (TNFR1, ST2, and Reg3α) to create an algorithm that computed the probability of non-relapse mortality 6 months after GVHD onset for individual patients in the training set alone. We rank ordered the probabilities and identified thresholds that created three distinct non-relapse mortality scores. We evaluated the algorithm in the test set, and again in an independent validation set of an additional 300 patients who underwent stem cell transplant and were enrolled on multicentre clinical trials of primary therapy for acute GVHD.In all three datasets (training, test, and validation), the cumulative incidence of 6-month non-relapse mortality significantly increased as the Ann Arbor GVHD score increased. In the multicentre validation set, scores were 8% (95% CI 3-16) for score 1, 27% (20-34) for score 2, and 46% (33-58) for score 3 (p0·0001). Conversely, the response to primary GVHD treatment within 28 days decreased as the GVHD score increased 86% for score 1, 67% for score 2, and 46% for score 3 in the multicentre validation set, p0·0001).Biomarker-based scores can be used to guide risk-adapted therapy at the onset of acute GVHD. High risk patients with a score of 3 are candidates for intensive primary therapy, while low risk patients with a score of 1 are candidates for rapid tapers of systemic steroid therapy.The National Cancer Institute, the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, the Doris Duke Charitable Fund, the American Cancer Society, and the Judith Devries Fund.

Haematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) is central to the management of many haematological disorders. A frequent complication of HSCT is acute graft-versus-host disease (GVHD), a condition in which immune cells from the donor attack healthy recipient tissues. The gastrointestinal system is among the most common sites affected by acute GVHD, and severe manifestations of acute GVHD of the gut portends a poor prognosis in patients after HSCT. Acute GVHD of the gastrointestinal tract presents both diagnostic and therapeutic challenges. Although the clinical manifestations are nonspecific and overlap with those of infection and drug toxicity, diagnosis is ultimately based on clinical criteria. As reliable serum biomarkers have not yet been validated outside of clinical trials, endoscopic and histopathological evaluation continue to be utilized in diagnosis. Once a diagnosis of gastrointestinal acute GVHD is established, therapy with systemic corticosteroids is typically initiated, and non-responders can be treated with a wide range of second-line therapies. In addition to treating the underlying disease, the management of complications including profuse diarrhoea, severe malnutrition and gastrointestinal bleeding is paramount. In this Review, we discuss strategies for the diagnosis and management of acute GVHD of the gastrointestinal tract as they pertain to the practising gastroenterologist.

BACKGROUND. No laboratory test can predict the risk of nonrelapse mortality (NRM) or severe graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) after hematopoietic cellular transplantation (HCT) prior to the onset of GVHD symptoms. METHODS. Patient blood samples on day 7 after HCT were obtained from a multicenter set of 1,287 patients, and 620 samples were assigned to a training set. We measured the concentrations of 4 GVHD biomarkers (ST2, REG3α, TNFR1, and IL-2Rα) and used them to model 6-month NRM using rigorous cross-validation strategies to identify the best algorithm that defined 2 distinct risk groups. We then applied the final algorithm in an independent test set (n = 309) and validation set (n = 358). RESULTS. A 2-biomarker model using ST2 and REG3α concentrations identified patients with a cumulative incidence of 6-month NRM of 28% in the high-risk group and 7% in the low-risk group (P < 0.001). The algorithm performed equally well in the test set (33% vs. 7%, P < 0.001) and the multicenter validation set (26% vs. 10%, P < 0.001). Sixteen percent, 17%, and 20% of patients were at high risk in the training, test, and validation sets, respectively. GVHD-related mortality was greater in high-risk patients (18% vs. 4%, P < 0.001), as was severe gastrointestinal GVHD (17% vs. 8%, P < 0.001). The same algorithm can be successfully adapted to define 3 distinct risk groups at GVHD onset. CONCLUSION. A biomarker algorithm based on a blood sample taken 7 days after HCT can consistently identify a group of patients at high risk for lethal GVHD and NRM. FUNDING. The National Cancer Institute, American Cancer Society, and the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation.

Acute Graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) is a major immunological complication after allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation and a better understanding of the molecular regulation of the disease could help to develop novel targeted therapies. Here we found that a G/C polymorphism within the human microRNA-146a (miR-146a) gene of transplant recipients, which causes reduced miR-146a levels, was strongly associated with the risk of developing severe acute GVHD (n=289). In mice, deficiency of miR-146a in the hematopoietic system or transfer of recipient-type miR-146a-/- dendritic cells (DCs) enhanced GVHD, while miR-146a mimic-transfected DCs ameliorated disease. Mechanistically, lack of miR-146a enhanced JAK2-STAT1 pathway activity, which led to higher expression of class II-transactivator (CIITA) and consecutively increased MHCII-levels on DCs. Inhibition of JAK1/2 or CIITA knockdown in DCs prevented miR-146a-/- DC-induced GVHD exacerbation. Consistent with our findings in mice, patients with the miR-146a polymorphism rs2910164 in hematopoietic cells displayed higher MHCII levels on monocytes, which could be targeted by JAK1/2 inhibition. Our findings indicate that the miR-146a polymorphism rs2910164 identifies patients at high risk for GVHD before allo-HCT. Functionally we show that miR-146a acts as a central regulator of recipient-type DC activation during GVHD by dampening the pro-inflammatory JAK-STAT/CIITA/MHCII axis, which provides a scientific rationale for early JAK1/2 inhibition in selected patients.

Clinical diagnosis of grade 1 acute graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) marks the beginning of a potentially progressive and fatal course of GVHD after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). However, interventional studies to treat early GVHD are lacking. We conducted a single-arm prospective phase II trial to test the hypothesis that treatment of newly diagnosed grade 1 acute GVHD with etanercept and topical corticosteroids would reduce progression to grade 2 to 4 within 28 days. Study patients (n = 34) had a median age of 51 years (range, 10 to 67 years) and had undergone unrelated (n = 22) or related (n = 12) donor HSCT. Study patients were treated with etanercept (.4 mg/kg, maximum 25 mg/dose) twice weekly for 4 to 8 weeks. Ten of 34 patients (29%) progressed to grade 2 to 4 acute GVHD within 28 days. The cumulative incidence of grade 2 to 4 and grade 3 to 4 acute GVHD at 1 year was 41% and 3%, respectively. Nonrelapse mortality was 19% and overall survival was 63% at 2 years. Among a contemporaneous control cohort of patients who were diagnosed with grade 1 acute GVHD and treated with topical corticosteroids but not etanercept during the study period, 12 of 28 patients (43%) progressed to grade 2 to 4 GVHD within 28 days, with a 1-year incidence of grade 2 to 4 GVHD and grade 3 to 4 GVHD of 61% (41% versus 61%, P = .08) and 18% (3% versus 18%, P = .05), respectively. Patients treated with etanercept also experienced less increase in GVHD plasma biomarkers suppression of tumorigenicity 2 (P = .06) and regenerating islet-derived 3-alpha (P = .01) 28 days after grade 1 acute GVHD diagnosis compared with contemporaneous control patients. This study was terminated early because of poor accrual. Future prospective studies are needed to identify patients with grade 1 acute GVHD at risk of swift progression to more severe GVHD and to establish consensus for the treatment of grade 1 acute GVHD. This trial is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, number NCT00726375.

T-cell activation requires increased ATP and biosynthesis to support proliferation and effector function. Most models of T-cell activation are based on in vitro culture systems and posit that aerobic glycolysis is employed to meet increased energetic and biosynthetic demands. By contrast, T cells activated in vivo by alloantigens in graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) increase mitochondrial oxygen consumption, fatty acid uptake, and oxidation, with small increases of glucose uptake and aerobic glycolysis. Here we show that these differences are not a consequence of alloactivation, because T cells activated in vitro either in a mixed lymphocyte reaction to the same alloantigens used in vivo or with agonistic anti-CD3/anti-CD28 antibodies increased aerobic glycolysis. Using targeted metabolic (13)C tracer fate associations, we elucidated the metabolic pathway(s) employed by alloreactive T cells in vivo that support this phenotype. We find that glutamine (Gln)-dependent tricarboxylic acid cycle anaplerosis is increased in alloreactive T cells and that Gln carbon contributes to ribose biosynthesis. Pharmacological modulation of oxidative phosphorylation rapidly reduces anaplerosis in alloreactive T cells and improves GVHD. On the basis of these data, we propose a model of T-cell metabolism that is relevant to activated lymphocytes in vivo, with implications for the discovery of new drugs for immune disorders.

Idiopathic pneumonia syndrome (IPS) is a diffuse, noninfectious lung injury that occurs acutely after allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT). IPS-related mortality has been historically high (>50%) despite treatment with systemic corticosteroids and supportive care measures. We have now examined the role of tumor necrosis factor inhibition in a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of corticosteroids with etanercept or placebo. Thirty-four subjects (≥18 years) with IPS after HCT were randomized to receive methylprednisolone (2 mg/kg/day) plus etanercept (0.4 mg/kg twice weekly × 4 weeks; n = 16) or placebo (n = 18). No active infections and a pathogen-negative bronchoscopy were required at study entry. Response (alive, with complete discontinuation of supplemental oxygen support) and overall survival were examined. This study, originally planned to accrue 120 patients, was terminated prematurely due to slow accrual. In the limited number of patients examined, there were no differences in response rates at day 28 of study. Ten of 16 patients (62.5% [95% confidence interval {CI}, 35.4% to 84.8%]) receiving etanercept and 12 of 18 patients (66.7% [95% CI, 41.0% to 86.7%]) receiving placebo met the day 28 response definition (P = 1.00). The median survival was 170 days (95% CI, 11 to 362) with etanercept versus 64 days (95% CI, 26 to 209) with placebo (P = .51). Among responders, the median time to discontinuation of supplemental oxygen was 9 days (etanercept) versus 7 days (placebo). Therapy was well tolerated, with 1 toxicity-related death from infectious pneumonia in the placebo arm. The treatment of IPS with corticosteroids in adult HCT recipients was associated with high early response rates (>60%) compared with historical reports, with poor overall survival. The addition of etanercept did not lead to further increases in response, although the sample size of this truncated trial preclude a definitive conclusion.

Next-generation sequencing of the hypervariable V3 region of the 16s rRNA gene isolated from serial stool specimens collected from 31 patients receiving allogeneic stem cell transplantation (SCT) was performed to elucidate variations in the composition of the intestinal microbiome in the course of allogeneic SCT. Metagenomic analysis was complemented by strain-specific enterococcal PCR and indirect assessment of bacterial load by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry of urinary indoxyl sulfate. At the time of admission, patients showed a predominance of commensal bacteria. After transplantation, a relative shift toward enterococci was observed, which was more pronounced under antibiotic prophylaxis and treatment of neutropenic infections. The shift was particularly prominent in patients that developed subsequently or suffered from active gastrointestinal (GI) graft-versus-host disease (GVHD). The mean proportion of enterococci in post-transplant stool specimens was 21% in patients who did not develop GI GVHD as compared with 46% in those that subsequently developed GI GVHD and 74% at the time of active GVHD. Enterococcal PCR confirmed predominance of Enterococcus faecium or both E. faecium and Enterococcus faecalis in these specimens. As a consequence of the loss of bacterial diversity, mean urinary indoxyl sulfate levels dropped from 42.5 ± 11 μmol/L to 11.8 ± 2.8 μmol/L in all post-transplant samples and to 3.5 ± 3 μmol/L in samples from patients with active GVHD. Our study reveals major microbiome shifts in the course of allogeneic SCT that occur in the period of antibiotic treatment but are more prominent in association with GI GVHD. Our data indicate early microbiome shifts and a loss of diversity of the intestinal microbiome that may affect intestinal inflammation in the setting of allogeneic SCT.

Outcomes of hematopoietic cell transplantation continue to improve. New techniques have reduced transplant toxicities, and there are new sources of hematopoietic stem cells from related and unrelated donors. In June 2007, the Blood and Marrow Transplant Clinical Trials Network (BMT CTN) convened a State of the Science Symposium (SOSS) in Ann Arbor and identified 11 high priority clinical trials for the network to pursue. This article reviews both the status of those trials and the record of achievement of the BMT CTN as it convenes another SOSS in Grapevine, Texas in February 2014.

There are no validated biomarkers for chronic GVHD (cGVHD). We used a protein microarray and subsequent sequential enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay to compare 17 patients with treatment-refractory de novo-onset cGVHD and 18 time-matched control patients without acute or chronic GVHD to identify 5 candidate proteins that distinguished cGVHD from no cGVHD: CXCL9, IL2Rα, elafin, CD13, and BAFF. We then assessed the discriminatory value of each protein individually and in composite panels in a validation cohort (n = 109). CXCL9 was found to have the highest discriminatory value with an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 0.83 (95% confidence interval, 0.74-0.91). CXCL9 plasma concentrations above the median were associated with a higher frequency of cGVHD even after adjustment for other factors related to developing cGVHD including age, diagnosis, donor source, and degree of HLA matching (71% vs 20%; P < .001). A separate validation cohort from a different transplant center (n = 211) confirmed that CXCL9 plasma concentrations above the median were associated with more frequent newly diagnosed cGVHD after adjusting for the aforementioned factors (84% vs 60%; P = .001). Our results confirm that CXCL9 is elevated in patients with newly diagnosed cGVHD.

Allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT) remains a viable treatment option for many cancers but its clinical utility is limited due to the occurrence of graft-versus-host disease (GVHD). Understanding the impact of obesity on immune function has become increasingly important in the setting of the current obesity pandemic. We report here that obesity has a negative and selective impact on acute gut GVHD. Diet-induced obese (DIO) mice exhibited increased gut permeability, endotoxin translocation and radiation-induced gastrointestinal damage. After allo-HSCT, DIO recipients across strains and sex had markedly increased pro-inflammatory cytokines (IL-6, TNF), GVHD biomarker ST2, MHC class II expression and exhibited rapid mortality associated with severe acute gut pathology. This obesity-associated lethal acute gut GVHD was dependent on donor CD4 T cells and occurred even in minor MHC mismatch strain combination in which only a delayed skin chronic GVHD resulted in lean recipients. Pro-inflammatory cytokine blockade targeting both IL-6 and TNF ameliorated obesity-associated acute gut GVHD while maintaining graft-versus-tumor (GVT) effects. Microbiome assessment of DIO mice revealed markedly reduced microbiome diversity and decreased Clostridiaceae abundance. Additionally, DIO mice had a significant increase of GVHD-associated Akkermansia muciniphila before and after allo-HSCT compared to the controls. Extended antibiotic treatment of DIO mice protected from the endotoxin translocation, cytokine storm as well as gut GVHD pathology but did not protect later development of chronic skin GVHD. These results demonstrate that obesity alters the microbiome and imparts differential effects on GVHD following allo-HSCT with decreased survival and this inferior outcome can be pre-empted by combined pro-inflammatory cytokine blockade or antibiotic pretreatment. Disclosures Pai: Roche-Genentech: Employment. Holtan:CSL Behring: Consultancy; Incyte: Consultancy; Bristol-Myers Squibb: Consultancy; Janssen: Consultancy. Ferrara:ViraCor: Consultancy; Incyte: Consultancy; Kamada: Consultancy; Mallinckrodt: Consultancy; Enlivex: Consultancy; Xenikos: Consultancy; CSL Behring: Consultancy; National Institutes of Health: Research Funding. Levine:Novartis: Honoraria; Kamada: Research Funding; bluebird bio: Consultancy; National Cancer Institute: Research Funding; Incyte: Consultancy, Research Funding; Ironwood: Honoraria; Biogen: Other: non-financial support; Viracor: Patents & Royalties: biomarker patent. Abedi:Abbie: Speakers Bureau; Gilead: Speakers Bureau; Celgene: Speakers Bureau; BMS: Speakers Bureau; Takeda: Speakers Bureau. Blazar:Kamon Pharmaceuticals, Inc: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Five Prime Therapeutics Inc: Co-Founder, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Regeneron Pharmaceuticals: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Magenta Therapeutics and BlueRock Therapeuetics: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Fate Therapeutics, Inc.: Research Funding; RXi Pharmaceuticals: Research Funding; Alpine Immune Sciences, Inc.: Research Funding; Abbvie Inc: Research Funding; Leukemia and Lymphoma Society: Research Funding; Childrens' Cancer Research Fund: Research Funding; KidsFirst Fund: Research Funding; Tmunity: Other: Co-Founder; BlueRock Therapeutics: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees.

Systemic glucocorticoids are the principal treatment for acute graft-versus-host disease (GVHD), which remains the major cause of non-relapse mortality (NRM) after allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT). However, there are no validated biomarkers that measure a patient's response to glucocorticoid therapy, and thus response is evaluated by the change in clinical symptom severity. A major weakness in the predictive power of clinical responses is that changes to all organs are weighted equally even though the major driver of NRM is irreversible damage to the crypts of the GI tract. Recent studies from the Mount Sinai Acute GVHD International Consortium (MAGIC) have validated an algorithm probability (MAP) that combines serum concentrations of two biomarkers of GVHD (REG3α and ST2) to generate an estimated probability of 6 month NRM for individual patients. The MAP has been considered a "liquid biopsy" that estimates the damage caused by GVHD to crypts throughout the lower GI tract (Hartwell et al., JCI Insight, 2017; Major-Monfried et al., Blood, 2018). We hypothesized that the change in MAP between start of treatment and 28 days later could serve as a response biomarker for GVHD and might compare favorably to the change in clinical symptoms that measures response to GVHD treatment, which is widely used as a surrogate for long term survival and is the primary endpoint in most GVHD treatment trials (Martin et al., BBMT, 2009; MacMillan et al., Blood, 2010). We prospectively collected serum samples and clinical staging from 368 sequential HCT patients who received systemic treatment for acute GVHD in one of 20 MAGIC centers between January 2016 and February 2018. We measured the serum concentrations of REG3α and ST2 before and after systemic therapy for acute GVHD and computed MAPs, the changes in MAPs, and clinical responses for each patient. MAPs of patients who experienced 6 month NRM showed significantly greater increases than MAPs of patients who survived (p=0.0004). In patients whose MAPs at the start of treatment were low (Ann Arbor 1, MAP < 0.141) or intermediate (Ann Arbor 2, 0.141 ≤ MAP ≤ 0.290), 6 month NRM clustered among those who had the greatest increases in MAP after 28 days (Fig 1A,B). In patients with high MAPs at the start of treatment (Ann Arbor 3, MAP > 0.290), those who survived tended to have the largest decreases in MAP (Fig 1C). These changes in MAP suggested crossing a single threshold could predict risk of mortality. We found that patients whose MAPs rose above a threshold MAP of 0.290 (5% of Ann Arbor 1, 27% of Ann Arbor 2) had significantly worse survival compared to those who remained below it, whereas the large number patients with initially high MAPs that remained above the threshold (66% of Ann Arbor 3) had a large increases in mortality (Fig 2). When measured at day 28, the MAP was significantly more accurate in predicting NRM than the gold standard of the clinical response, with areas under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) of 0.86 and 0.70, respectively (p We conclude that the MAP is, to our knowledge, the first validated laboratory test to serve as response biomarker for the treatment for acute GVHD and a more accurate predictor of survival than clinical response after four weeks of treatment. The MAP may serve as a novel endpoint and an important complement to changes in clinical symptom severity in future trials of GVHD treatment. Disclosures Srinagesh: National Institutes of Health: Research Funding. Ozbek:Viracor: Patents & Royalties: Biomarker Patent. Ayuk:Novartis: Honoraria, Other: Advisory Board, Research Funding. Aziz:Doris Duke Charitable Foundation: Research Funding. Defilipp:Incyte: Research Funding. Grupp:Novartis: Consultancy, Research Funding; Roche: Consultancy; GSK: Consultancy; CBMG: Consultancy; Novartis: Research Funding; Kite: Research Funding; Servier: Research Funding; Jazz: Other: study steering committees or scientific advisory boards; Adaptimmune: Other: study steering committees or scientific advisory boards; Cure Genetics: Consultancy; Humanigen: Consultancy. Hexner:novartis: Research Funding. Kitko:Mallinckrodt: Honoraria; Novartis: Consultancy, Honoraria. Mielke:EBMT/EHA: Other: Travel support; ISCT: Other: Travel support; Miltenyi: Consultancy, Honoraria, Other: Travel and speakers fee (via institution), Speakers Bureau; Jazz Pharma: Honoraria, Other: Travel support, Speakers Bureau; IACH: Other: Travel support; Kiadis Pharma: Consultancy, Honoraria, Other: Travel support (via institution), Speakers Bureau; DGHO: Other: Travel support; Bellicum: Consultancy, Honoraria, Other: Travel (via institution); GILEAD: Consultancy, Honoraria, Other: travel (via institution), Speakers Bureau; Celgene: Honoraria, Other: Travel support (via institution), Speakers Bureau. Merli:Sobi: Consultancy; Amgen: Honoraria; Novartis: Honoraria; Bellicum: Consultancy. Pulsipher:Amgen: Other: Lecture; Miltenyi: Research Funding; Bellicum: Consultancy; Novartis: Consultancy, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Speakers Bureau; Jazz: Other: Education for employees; CSL Behring: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Adaptive: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Research Funding; Medac: Honoraria. Qayed:Bristol-Myers Squibb: Honoraria. Reshef:Pfizer: Consultancy; Magenta: Consultancy; Kite: Consultancy, Research Funding; Atara: Consultancy, Research Funding; BMS: Consultancy; Pharmacyclics: Consultancy, Research Funding; Incyte: Consultancy, Research Funding; Celgene: Research Funding; Shire: Research Funding. Levine:Incyte: Consultancy, Research Funding; Biogen: Other: non-financial support; Viracor: Patents & Royalties: biomarker patent; Ironwood: Honoraria; bluebird bio: Consultancy; National Cancer Institute: Research Funding; Novartis: Honoraria; Kamada: Research Funding. Ferrara:National Institutes of Health: Research Funding; ViraCor: Consultancy; Incyte: Consultancy; Kamada: Consultancy; Mallinckrodt: Consultancy; Enlivex: Consultancy; Xenikos: Consultancy; CSL Behring: Consultancy.

Introduction aGVHD affects 40% to 60% of hematopoietic cellular transplant (HCT) patients, targeting the skin, liver, and gastrointestinal tract with a median onset approximately 1 month after transplant. In 2017, an interpretive algorithm based on serum ST2 and REG3α levels was clinically validated (JCI Insight 2017;2(3):e89798). Objectives This report details validation, inter-lab correlation and initial results from clinical analysis. Methods ST2 and REG3α levels were analyzed in serum using enzyme immunoassays. ST2 and REG3α values are analyzed through an equation to provide an index value that can be used for predicting non-relapse mortality and aGVHD risk for pre-symptomatic (low/high risk), symptomatic onset (low/medium/high risk) and post treatment (low/high risk) HCT patients. Results were compared with the research lab where the equation was established (Mount Sinai Medical Center, MSMC). Results The inter-assay precision ranged from 12 to 26 %CV for ST2 and REG3a, while those for the calculated indices ranged from 17 to 18%. Accuracy was compared against biomarker values and indices reported by MSMC for 106 serum samples. Among samples with biomarker concentrations within the assays' measuring range, the relative error was Conclusions The aGVHD index and its component input assays, ST2 and REG3a, were validated for clinical use. Notably, excellent concordance was observed on a large sample set (106 sera) with MSMC. In addition, initial results indicate that the aGVHD index may prove useful for risk-stratifying HCT patients.