The role of autophagy vs. graft failure in GVHD
Lineburg KE, Leveque-El Mouttie L, Hunter CR, et al. Autophagy Prevents Graft Failure During Murine Graft Versus Host Disease. Blood Advances. 2024; (doi: 10.1182/bloodadvances.2023010972).
Investigators have learned that the intracellular process known as autophagy is critical to the survival of hematopoietic stem cells (HSC) and hematopoietic progenitor cells (HPC) in the setting of graft-versus-host disease (GVHD). Through various models, their work shows that autophagy is amplified in donor HSC and during GVHD, a complication of allogeneic stem cell transplantation (allo-SCT). In the absence of autophagy, HSCs and HPCs are unable to sustain hematopoiesis, and in the unstable hematopoietic environment, primary graft failure and universal transplant-related mortality are probable. The research demonstrates the importance of autophagy as a survival mechanism in HSC and HPC populations after allo-SCT and presents it as a potential therapeutic pathway for avoiding graft failure during GVHD.