Donor IL-10 Genotype and GVHD Protection
A cohort-based immunogenetic study evaluating donor cytokine gene variants and their impact on acute GVHD outcomes following allogeneic HCT.
In this study, 315 myeloablative, 10/10 HLA-matched donor–recipient pairs were evaluated to assess the impact of donor cytokine gene polymorphisms on graft-versus-host disease (GVHD). Using genomic, transcriptomic, and immunologic analyses, IL-10 promoter variants were evaluated alongside longitudinal cytokine expression and immune reconstitution. Donor IL10-1082GG genotype, associated with higher IL-10 production, demonstrated a protective effect against acute GVHD without increasing relapse risk, highlighting its potential utility in donor selection strategies.
Figure 1. Recipients of IL10-1082GG positive graft had a three-fold lower incidence of grade 2–4 acute GVHD (aGVHD) (left panel) and clinically significant GVHD (right panel) than recipients of an IL10-1082AA positive graft across both the randomly allocated discovery (A) and validation (B) cohorts.