Collection of peripheral blood mononucleated cells for chronic graft-versus-host disease immunology research: safety and effectiveness of leukapheresis in 132 patients

BACKGROUND: Chronic graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) is a major cause of late morbidity and non-relapse mortality in recipients of allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT). Its biology, however, remains poorly understood, making the studies of its biology and immunomodulatory therapies a difficult task. Such research is often hampered by lymphopenia which is common in these patients and precludes studies of critical cellular subsets across the spectrum of severity of disease. This study explores the potential of leukapheresis to safely acquire and efficiently store immune cells for immunology research in chronic GVHD. METHODS: This is a cross-sectional study in which 132 consecutively accrued patients undergo optional research leukapheresis and a one-week comprehensive outpatient evaluation. Baseline clinical and laboratory data and efficiency of the procedure were reported. RESULTS: Ninety-four of 132 patients (71%) achieved the goal collection of 2 × 10^9 PBMNCs with a mean volume processed of 4.6 L. Only mild decreases in hemoglobin, platelet, lymphocyte and monocytes were observed. All adverse events were mild (grade 1) and had resolved by the time of discharge from the apheresis unit. CONCLUSION: This study demonstrates feasibility, safety, and efficiency of research leukapheresis in a frail patient population. Results presented promote leukapheresis as a standard research practice option in studies of chronic GVHD in humans which may expedite advances in our understanding of this complex multisystem disease. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12967-022-03708-w.