Momeni-Varposhti Zahra, Kazemi Mohammad Hossein, Talebi Mehdi, Chegeni Rouzbeh, Roshandel Elham, Hajifathali Abbas, Movassaghpour Ali Akbar
Hematology and Oncology Research Center, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran.
Student Research Committee, Department of Immunology, School of Medicine, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Med J Islam Repub Iran. 2020 Nov 9;34:151. doi: 10.34171/mjiri.34.151. eCollection 2020.
Acute graft-versus-host disease is a major complication in allogeneic hematopoietic stem-cell transplantation. Epinephrine and norepinephrine are stress hormones which affect many cells, including immune cells through interaction with adrenergic receptors, mainly β2-adrenergic receptor. The immunomodulatory effects of epinephrine, norepinephrine, and signaling of the adrenergic receptor have been shown to decrease the probability of the acute graft-versus-host disease in animal models. The aim of our study was to investigate the possible correlations between the serum levels of epinephrine and norepinephrine and also leukocytic expression levels of β2-adrenergic receptor with the incidence of acute graft-versus-host disease in patients undergoing allogeneic hematopoietic stem-cell transplantation. In this study, the plasma levels of epinephrine and norepinephrine and the leukocytic expression of β2-adrenergic receptor gene were measured and compared in allogeneic hematopoietic stem-cell transplantation patients with and without acute graft-versus-host disease. Data were analyzed and illustrated using SPSS 19 and GraphPad Prism 6. The student T-test, Pearson, and Spearman's tests were performed and p<0.05 was considered as significant. We showed that the plasma levels of norepinephrine and the relative amount of the mRNA of β2-adrenergic receptor at 7 and 21 days after allogeneic hematopoietic stem-cell transplantation were significantly lower in patients with acute graft-versus-host disease than recipients without acute graft-versus-host disease. There were also negative correlations between the plasma levels of norepinephrine, leukocytic levels of the mRNA of β2-adrenergic receptor, and the incidence of acute graft-versus-host disease. Our results suggest that stress hormones and their receptor might have a role in preventing acute graft-versus-host disease and could be promising factors in controlling the outcome of allogeneic hematopoietic stem-cell transplantation.
急性移植物抗宿主病是异基因造血干细胞移植中的一种主要并发症。肾上腺素和去甲肾上腺素是应激激素，它们通过与肾上腺素能受体（主要是β2 - 肾上腺素能受体）相互作用影响许多细胞，包括免疫细胞。在动物模型中，已显示肾上腺素、去甲肾上腺素的免疫调节作用以及肾上腺素能受体的信号传导可降低急性移植物抗宿主病的发生概率。我们研究的目的是调查异基因造血干细胞移植患者血清中肾上腺素和去甲肾上腺素水平以及β2 - 肾上腺素能受体的白细胞表达水平与急性移植物抗宿主病发生率之间的可能相关性。在本研究中，对有或无急性移植物抗宿主病的异基因造血干细胞移植患者的血浆肾上腺素和去甲肾上腺素水平以及β2 - 肾上腺素能受体基因的白细胞表达进行了测量和比较。使用SPSS 19和GraphPad Prism 6对数据进行分析和说明。进行了学生t检验、Pearson检验和Spearman检验，p<0.05被认为具有统计学意义。我们发现，急性移植物抗宿主病患者在异基因造血干细胞移植后7天和21天的去甲肾上腺素血浆水平以及β2 - 肾上腺素能受体mRNA的相对量显著低于无急性移植物抗宿主病的受者。去甲肾上腺素血浆水平、β2 - 肾上腺素能受体mRNA的白细胞水平与急性移植物抗宿主病的发生率之间也存在负相关。我们的结果表明，应激激素及其受体可能在预防急性移植物抗宿主病中发挥作用，并且可能是控制异基因造血干细胞移植结果的有前景的因素。
