Baseline immune dysregulation in autologous stem cell transplant recipients is associated with a ‘graft versus host’-like syndrome and poor outcomes

Introduction: Acute Graft Versus Host Disease (GVHD) is caused by the recognition of recipient antigens by donor T lymphocytes following allogeneic stem cell transplantation (SCT). The development of clinical and histo-pathological changes similar to GVHD after autologous SCT (ASCT) is a poorly understood and controversial phenomenon. Given the controversy around this topic, we aimed to: 1) analyze outcomes and clinical correlatives for the development of GVHD in ASCT recipients and 2) analyze baseline T and Natural Killer (NK) cell functions in patients that developed GVHD after ASCT, compared to matched controls.