Clinical Trials, U.S.: Graft Failure, Graft-Versus-Host Disease

Graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) is an immune-mediated syndrome that often occurs after hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT), and is associated with a higher rate of morbidity, mortality, protracted immune suppression, impaired functionality, and poor quality of life. Though poorly understood, the pathophysiology of GVHD is believed to be due to the interaction of tissue damage and proinflammatory cytokines, donor T cell activation by antigen-presenting cells, and tissue injury by effector T lymphocytes. GVHD occurs in both acute and chronic forms and remains one of the major barriers to improving long-term outcomes in allogeneic stem cell transplant recipients. According to the Glucksberg criteria, which describes severity of GVHD between I and IV (IV being the most severe), acute GVHD (aGVHD) is observed within the first 100 days post ...