Increased circulating CD3⁺ T cells are associated with early relapse following autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation in patients with classical Hodgkin lymphoma

Abstract

Non-malignant host immune cells are the main substrate in classical Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) microenvironment. Reconstitution of lymphocyte populations following the high-dose chemotherapy (HDC) with autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (auto-HSCT) can support tumor growth in HL patients. We investigated recovery dynamics of circulating CD3⁺, CD4⁺, CD8⁺, CD16⁺/CD56⁺, CD19⁺, CD4⁺FOXP3⁺ lymphocytes following auto-HSCT in 79 HL patients and assessed relationship between these populations and the development of early relapse. Studied populations were not statistically significant between patients with high or standard/intermediate risk of relapse. CD3⁺ T cells at the time of engraftment were increased in patients with the early relapse of HL compared to non-relapsed patients (P_U = 0.0028). Area under the curve was 0.76 (р = .0037). In logistic regression models, CD3⁺ T cell count was associated with early relapse/progression as a trend. These findings elucidate several interactions between early systemic T cell recovery and tumor progression following HDC with auto-HSCT.

Keywords:

• Lymphocyte recovery
• CD3+ T cells
• autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation
• Hodgkin lymphoma
• early relapse

Acknowledgements

We are very grateful to the patients in this study. The authors would like to thank the nurses at our institution.

Potential conflict of interest

Disclosure forms provided by the authors are available with the full text of this article online at https://doi.org/10.1080/10428194.2019.1581934.