Ruxolitinib improves hematopoietic regeneration by restoring mesenchymal stromal cell function in acute graft-versus-host disease

Acute graft-versus-host disease (aGVHD) is a severe complication of allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Hematopoietic dysfunction accompanied by severe aGVHD, which may be caused by niche impairment, is a long-standing clinical problem. However, how the bone marrow (BM) niche is damaged in aGVHD hosts is poorly defined. To comprehensively address this question, we used a haplo-MHC–matched transplantation aGVHD murine model and performed single-cell RNA-Seq of nonhematopoietic BM cells. Transcriptional analysis showed that BM mesenchymal stromal cells (BMSCs) were severely affected, with a reduction in cell ratio, abnormal metabolism, compromised differentiation potential, and defective hematopoiesis-supportive function, all of which were validated by functional assays. We found that ruxolitinib, a selective JAK1/2 inhibitor, ameliorated aGVHD-related hematopoietic dysfunction through a direct effect on recipient BMSCs, resulting in improved proliferation ability, adipogenesis/osteogenesis potential, mitochondria metabolism capacity, and crosstalk with donor-derived hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells. By inhibiting the JAK2/STAT1 pathway, ruxolitinib maintained long-term improvement of aGVHD BMSC function. Additionally, ruxolitinib pretreatment in vitro primed BMSCs to better support donor-derived hematopoiesis in vivo. These observations in the murine model were validated in patient samples. Overall, our findings suggest that ruxolitinib can directly restore BMSC function via the JAK2/STAT1 pathway and, in turn, improve the hematopoietic dysfunction caused by aGVHD.