PMID- 12433681 OWN - NLM STAT- MEDLINE DCOM- 20030521 LR - 20210206 IS - 0006-4971 (Print) IS - 0006-4971 (Linking) VI - 101 IP - 7 DP - 2003 Apr 1 TI - Pretreatment of donors with interleukin-18 attenuates acute graft-versus-host disease via STAT6 and preserves graft-versus-leukemia effects. PG - 2877-85 AB - Interleukin-18 (IL-18) is a unique cytokine that modulates both T(H)1/T(H)2 responses, but its ability to modulate diseases through induction of T(H)2 cytokines is unclear. It has been shown to play an important role in allogeneic bone marrow transplantation (BMT). Because immune responses of allogeneic BM donors may affect acute graft-versus-host disease (GVHD), we investigated the effect of pretreating BM transplant donors with IL-18 on the severity of acute GVHD using a well-characterized experimental BMT model (BALB/c-->B6). Pretreatment of allogeneic BM transplant donors with IL-18 significantly improved survival (80% vs 0%; P <.001), and reduced clinical, biochemical, and pathologic indices of acute GVHD in BM transplant recipients. IL-18 pretreatment was associated with reduced interferon gamma (IFN-gamma) and greater IL-4 secretion by donor T cells after BMT. Acute GVHD mortality was reduced when IL-18 was administered to donors deficient in IFN-gamma and signal transducer and activator of transcription 4 (STAT4) but not STAT6 signaling molecules, suggesting a critical role for STAT6 signaling in IL-18's protective effect. IL-18 treatment did not alter donor CD8(+) cytotoxic T-lymphocyte (CTL) activity and preserved graft-versus-leukemia (GVL) effects after allogeneic BMT (70% vs 10%; P <.01). Together these data illustrate that pretreatment of donors with IL-18 prior to allogeneic BMT attenuates acute GVHD in a STAT6-dependent mechanism while preserving GVL effects. FAU - Reddy, Pavan AU - Reddy P AD - Department of Internal Medicine, University of Michigan Cancer Center, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-0942, USA. FAU - Teshima, Takanori AU - Teshima T FAU - Hildebrandt, Gerhard AU - Hildebrandt G FAU - Williams, Debra L AU - Williams DL FAU - Liu, Chen AU - Liu C FAU - Cooke, Kenneth R AU - Cooke KR FAU - Ferrara, James L M AU - Ferrara JL LA - eng GR - CA 49542/CA/NCI NIH HHS/United States PT - Journal Article PT - Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't PT - Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S. DEP - 20021114 PL - United States TA - Blood JT - Blood JID - 7603509 RN - 0 (Interleukin-18) RN - 0 (STAT6 Transcription Factor) RN - 0 (STAT6 protein, human) RN - 0 (Stat6 protein, mouse) RN - 0 (Trans-Activators) RN - 82115-62-6 (Interferon-gamma) SB - IM MH - Acute Disease MH - Animals MH - Bone Marrow Transplantation/adverse effects/*methods MH - Female MH - Graft vs Host Disease/*drug therapy/mortality/prevention & control MH - Graft vs Leukemia Effect/drug effects MH - Humans MH - Interferon-gamma/metabolism MH - Interleukin-18/administration & dosage/*pharmacology MH - Leukemia, Experimental/therapy MH - Mice MH - Mice, Inbred BALB C MH - Mice, Inbred C57BL MH - STAT6 Transcription Factor MH - Survival Rate MH - T-Lymphocytes/drug effects MH - Tissue Donors MH - Trans-Activators/metabolism/*physiology MH - Transplantation, Homologous/adverse effects/immunology/methods EDAT- 2002/11/16 04:00 MHDA- 2003/05/22 05:00 CRDT- 2002/11/16 04:00 PHST- 2002/11/16 04:00 [pubmed] PHST- 2003/05/22 05:00 [medline] PHST- 2002/11/16 04:00 [entrez] AID - S0006-4971(20)51184-1 [pii] AID - 10.1182/blood-2002-08-2566 [doi] PST - ppublish SO - Blood. 2003 Apr 1;101(7):2877-85. doi: 10.1182/blood-2002-08-2566. Epub 2002 Nov 14.