Change of B-cell activating factor in patients with chronic graft-versus-host disease

Objective To study the role of B-cell activating factor in the pathogenesis of chronic graft-versus-host disease（cGVHD） after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation（HSCT）. Methods Occurrence of cGVHD was observed in 25 patients after allogeneic HSCT.cGVHD was clinically diagnosed and histologically confirmed in some patients by biopsy.Peripheral blood was collected from the 25 patients after allogeneic HSCT.B-cell activating factor levels were measured by flow cytometry. Results The ratio of B-cell activating factor was much higher in cGVHD patients than in the controls（P＜0.01）. Conclusion B-cell activating factor increases significantly when cGVHD occurs.It is beneficial for the diagnosis and treatment of cGVHD to detect the ratio of B-cell activating factor.