Browsing by Author "Kushekhar, Kushi"

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    Biomarker Panel for Chronic Graft-Versus-Host Disease
    (American Society of Clinical Oncology, 2016-08-01) Yu, Jeffrey; Storer, Barry E.; Kushekhar, Kushi; Zaid, Mohammad Abu; Zhang, Qing; Gafken, Philip R.; Ogata, Yuko; Martin, Paul J.; Flowers, Mary E.; Hansen, John A.; Arora, Mukta; Cutler, Corey; Jagasia, Madan; Pidala, Joseph; Hamilton, Betty K.; Chen, George L.; Pusic, Iskra; Lee, Stephanie J.; Paczesny, Sophie; Medicine, School of Medicine
    PURPOSE: To identify diagnostic and prognostic markers of chronic graft-versus-host disease (cGVHD), the major cause of morbidity and mortality after allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT). PATIENTS AND METHODS: Using a quantitative proteomics approach, we compared pooled plasma samples obtained at matched time points after HCT (median, 103 days) from 35 patients with cGVHD and 18 without cGVHD (data are available via ProteomeXchange with identifier PXD002762). Of 105 proteins showing at least a 1.25-fold difference in expression, 22 were selected on the basis of involvement in relevant pathways and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay availability. Chemokine (C-X-C motif) ligand 9 (CXCL9) and suppression of tumorigenicity 2 (ST2) also were measured on the basis of previously determined associations with GVHD. Concentrations of the four lead biomarkers were measured at or after diagnosis in plasma from two independent verification cohorts (n = 391) to determine their association with cGVHD. Their prognostic ability when measured at approximately day +100 after HCT was evaluated in plasma of a second verification cohort (n = 172). RESULTS: Of 24 proteins measured in the first verification cohort, nine proteins were associated with cGVHD, and only four (ST2, CXCL9, matrix metalloproteinase 3, and osteopontin) were necessary to compose a four-biomarker panel with an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) of 0.89 and significant correlation with cGVHD diagnosis, cGVHD severity, and nonrelapse mortality. In a second verification cohort, this panel distinguished patients with cGVHD (AUC, 0.75), and finally, the panel measured at day +100 could predict cGVHD occurring within the next 3 months with an AUC of 0.67 and 0.79 without and with known clinical risk factors, respectively. CONCLUSION: We conclude that the biomarker panel measured at diagnosis or day +100 after HCT may allow patient stratification according to risk of cGVHD.
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    ICOSL+ plasmacytoid dendritic cells as inducer of graft-versus-host disease, responsive to a dual ICOS/CD28 antagonist
    (American Association for the Advancement of Science, 2020-10-07) Adom, Djamilatou; Dillon, Stacey R.; Yang, Jinfeng; Liu, Hao; Ramadan, Abdulraouf; Kushekhar, Kushi; Hund, Samantha; Albright, Amanda; Kirksey, Maykala; Adeniyan, Titilayo; Lewis, Katherine E.; Evans, Lawrence; Wu, Rebecca; Levin, Steven D.; Mudri, Sherri; Yang, Jing; Rickel, Erika; Seaberg, Michelle; Henderson, Katherine; Gudgeon, Chelsea J.; Wolfson, Martin F.; Swanson, Ryan M.; Swiderek, Kristine M.; Peng, Stanford L.; Hippen, Keli L.; Blazar, Bruce R.; Paczesny, Sophie; Pediatrics, School of Medicine
    Acute graft-versus-host disease (aGVHD) remains a major complication of allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT). CD146 and CCR5 are proteins that mark activated T helper 17 (Th17) cells. The Th17 cell phenotype is promoted by the interaction of the receptor ICOS on T cells with ICOS ligand (ICOSL) on dendritic cells (DCs). We performed multiparametric flow cytometry in a cohort of 156 HCT recipients and conducted experiments with aGVHD murine models to understand the role of ICOSL+ DCs. We observed an increased frequency of ICOSL+ plasmacytoid DCs, correlating with CD146+CCR5+ T cell frequencies, in the 64 HCT recipients with gastrointestinal aGVHD. In murine models, donor bone marrow cells from ICOSL-deficient mice compared to those from wild-type mice reduced aGVHD-related mortality. Reduced aGVHD resulted from lower intestinal infiltration of pDCs and pathogenic Th17 cells. We transplanted activated human ICOSL+ pDCs along with human peripheral blood mononuclear cells into immunocompromised mice and observed infiltration of intestinal CD146+CCR5+ T cells. We found that prophylactic administration of a dual human ICOS/CD28 antagonist (ALPN-101) prevented aGVHD in this model better than did the clinically approved belatacept (CTLA-4-Fc), which binds CD80 (B7-1) and CD86 (B7-2) and interferes with the CD28 T cell costimulatory pathway. When started at onset of aGVHD signs, ALPN-101 treatment alleviated symptoms of ongoing aGVHD and improved survival while preserving antitumoral cytotoxicity. Our data identified ICOSL+-pDCs as an aGVHD biomarker and suggest that coinhibition of the ICOSL/ICOS and B7/CD28 axes with one biologic drug may represent a therapeutic opportunity to prevent or treat aGVHD.
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    Proteomic characterization reveals that MMP-3 correlates with bronchiolitis obliterans syndrome following allogeneic hematopoietic cell and lung transplantation
    (Wiley, 2016-08) Liu, Xiaowen; Yue, Zongliang; Yu, Jeffrey; Daguindau, Etienne; Kushekhar, Kushi; Zhang, Qing; Ogata, Yuko; Gafken, Philip R.; Inamoto, Yoshihiro; Gracon, Adam; Wilkes, David S.; Hansen, John A.; Lee, Stephanie J.; Chen, Jake Yue; Paczesny, Sophie; BioHealth Informatics, School of Informatics and Computing
    Improved diagnostic methods are needed for bronchiolitis obliterans syndrome (BOS), a serious complication after allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) and lung transplantation. For proteins candidate discovery, we compared plasma pools from HCT transplantation recipients with: BOS at onset (n=12), pulmonary infection (n=16), chronic graft-versus-host disease without pulmonary involvement (n=15), and no chronic complications post-HCT (n=15). Pools were labeled with different tags [isobaric Tags for Relative and Absolute Quantification (iTRAQ)], and two software tools identified differentially expressed proteins (≥1.5-fold change). Candidate proteins were further selected using a six-step computational biology approach. The diagnostic value of the lead candidate, matrix metalloproteinase-3 (MMP-3), was evaluated by ELISA in plasma of a verification cohort (n=112) with and without BOS following HCT (n=76) or lung transplantation (n=36). MMP-3 plasma concentrations differed significantly between patients with and without BOS (AUC=0.77). Thus, MMP-3 represents a potential non-invasive blood test for diagnosis of BOS.