Role of myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSC) in the development of immune tolerance after allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (alloHCT)

Principal Investigator: Benjamin Oshrine, MD (Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital)

Study Synopsis:

This trial is for children and young adults undergoing a bone marrow transplant (BMT) for treatment of leukemia or lymphoma. This research is being done to better understand the process of developing immune tolerance after blood and marrow transplantation (BMT). After BMT, the immune system of the donor gradually learns to recognize the recipient as “self” to avoid problems like graft-versus-host disease, a common complication of BMT. This is called immune tolerance. Researchers hope to determine if one specific type of immune cell, called “myeloid-derived suppressor cells” (MDSCs), are involved in this process and to determine when this cell remerges after transplant. Blood will be collected from study participants undergoing BMT to compare recipients of matched related and unrelated transplants to those receiving haploidentical bone marrow transplants (from half-matched relatives).