Soluble DNAM-1, as a Predictive Biomarker for Acute Graft-Versus-Host Disease

Acute graft-versus-host disease (aGVHD) is a major complication of allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT). Because diagnosis of aGVHD is exclusively based on clinical symptoms and pathological findings, reliable and noninvasive laboratory tests for accurate diagnosis are required. An activating immunoreceptor, DNAM-1 (CD226), is expressed on T cells and natural killer cells and is involved in the development of aGVHD. Here, we identified a soluble form of DNAM-1 (sDNAM-1) in human sera. In retrospective univariate and multivariate analyses of allo-HSCT patients (n = 71) at a single center, cumulative incidences of all grade (grade I–IV) and sgrade II–IV aGVHD in patients with high maximal serum levels of sDNAM-1 (≥30 pM) in the 7 days before allo-HSCT were significantly higher than those in patients with low maximal serum levels of sDNAM-1 (<30 pM) in the same period. However, sDNAM-1 was not associated with other known allo-HSCT complications. Our data suggest that sDNAM-1 is potentially a unique candidate as a predictive biomarker for the development of aGVHD.