Prevention of Murine Sclerodermatous Chronic Graft-Versus-Host Disease by Rapamycin
January 2013
in “
Biology of blood and marrow transplantation
”
TLDR Rapamycin increased survival in mice with severe chronic graft-versus-host disease by expanding regulatory T cells.
The study developed a severe murine model of chronic graft-versus-host disease (cGvHD) to better assess therapeutic interventions. In this model, all mice experienced significant weight loss, hair loss, and skin fibrosis, with a median survival of 32 days. Rapamycin treatment significantly improved survival, with 6 out of 8 mice surviving beyond 52 days compared to none in the placebo group. Rapamycin-treated mice also showed higher numbers of regulatory T cells and various subsets of CD4+ T cells, suggesting that rapamycin may prevent cGvHD by promoting the expansion of regulatory T cells.
