Autophagy prevents graft failure during murine graft-versus-host disease

Katie E. Lineburg, Lucie Leveque El Mouttie, Christopher R. Hunter, Laetitia Le Texier, Crystal McGirr, Bianca Teal, Bruce R. Blazar, Steven W. Lane, Geoffrey R. Hill, Jean Pierre Lévesque, Kelli P.A. MacDonald

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

1 Scopus citations

Abstract

Autophagy is an intracellular survival process that has established roles in the long-term survival and function of hematopoietic stem cells (HSC). We investigated the contribution of autophagy to HSC fitness during allogeneic transplantation and graft-versus-host disease (GVHD). We demonstrate in vitro that both tumor necrosis factor and IL-1β, major components of GVHD cytokine storm, synergistically promote autophagy in both HSC and their more mature hematopoietic progenitor cells (HPC). In vivo we demonstrate that autophagy is increased in donor HSC and HPC during GVHD. Competitive transplant experiments demonstrated that autophagy-deficient cells display reduced capacity to reconstitute the hematopoietic system compared to wild-type counterparts. In a major histocompatibility complex-mismatched model of GVHD and associated cytokine dysregulation, we demonstrate that autophagy-deficient HSC and progenitors fail to establish durable hematopoiesis, leading to primary graft failure and universal transplant related mortality. Using several different models, we confirm that autophagy activity is increased in early progenitor and HSC populations in the presence of T-cell–derived inflammatory cytokines and that these HSC populations require autophagy to survive. Thus, autophagy serves as a key survival mechanism in HSC and progenitor populations after allogeneic stem cell transplant and may represent a therapeutic target to prevent graft failure during GVHD.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)2032-2043
Number of pages12
JournalBlood Advances
Volume8
Issue number8
DOIs
StatePublished - Apr 23 2024

Bibliographical note

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© 2024 American Society of Hematology. All rights reserved.

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