ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Immunol.
Sec. Alloimmunity and Transplantation
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2025.1624168
Lipid biomarkers of GVHD in allogeneic stem hematopoietic cell transplantation patients
Provisionally accepted
- Third Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, China
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Dyslipidemia is known to be closely related to both innate and adaptive immune reactions. However, it remains largely unknown whether serum lipids exert a role in patients' hematopoietic reconstitution. We sought to characterize the lipid profiles in patients who underwent allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) and to assess dyslipidemia and its associations with clinical outcomes during HSCT. A retrospective adult cohort (≥18 years, n=106) recruited between January 2019 and December 2023 with complete lipid records was included. Profound dyslipidemia emerged post-HSCT, with >60% developing significantly reduced high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL-C) and elevated triglyceride (TG), total cholesterol (TC) and low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-C) levels versus baseline. HDL-C reached its nadir by day 14, followed by a slow recovery. Grade III-IV acute GVHD patients showed significantly lower HDL-C levels than non-GVHD cases. Lower HDL-C levels correlated with delayed neutrophil engraftment and worse GVHD-free/relapse-free survival (GRFS), but not with overall survival (OS). HDL-C levels effectively stratified risk, with HDL-C ≤ 0.84 mmol/L identified as an independent GVHD predictor. Early HDL-C trajectories serve as novel biomarkers for GVHD susceptibility, supporting protocolized monitoring to guide preemptive interventions.
Keywords: Lipid, HDL - Cholesterol, HSCT = hematopoietic stem cell transplant, GvHD (graft-versus-host disease), GRFS
Received: 09 May 2025; Accepted: 13 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Lin, Shen, Yan, Li and Yang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Zhi Lin, Third Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, China
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