AIMS: This study aimed to examine changes in the repertoire of functional T-cells specific for six leukemia-associated antigens (LAA), including WT1, PRAME, MUC1, CCNA1, NPM1, and NPM1c, during immune reconstitution following allogeneic transplantation of hematopoietic stem cells (HSCT) in patients with acute myeloid leukemia. PATIENTS & METHODS: LAA-specific T cell response was measured by ELISPOT- IFNγ and intracellular cytokine staining in 47 patients before starting conditioning therapy (baseline) and 7 months after HSCT. RESULTS: The positive cumulative LAA-specific T cell response before HSCT was associated with a decreased risk of relapse after HSCT. The prevalent genetic aberration - an internal tandem duplication of Fms 3 - related receptor tyrosine kinase, which has been previously implicated in immune escape mechanisms, is presented here for the first time as a factor associated with the absence of an adaptive T cell response against multiple LAAs. T-cell specific responses against wild-type and mutated NPM1 antigens were less frequent in the study cohort and did not correlate with mutations in the NPM1 gene. CONCLUSIONS: Our results showed that the T-cell response to LAA can be reconstituted after HSCT. Measurement of functional pre-transplant T-cell responses against multiple LAAs could help to find patients with an increased risk of relapse.

Department of Immunology Institute of Hematology and Blood Transfusion Prague Czech Republic

Institute of Clinical and Experimental Hematology of the 1st Faculty of Medicine of Charles University Prague Czech Republic

Transplantation and Intensive Care Unit Institute of Hematology and Blood Transfusion Prague Czech Republic

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