Fewer circulating natural killer cells 28 days after double cord blood transplantation predicts inferior survival and IL-15 response

Abstract

Abstract: Natural killer (NK) cell immune reconstitution after double umbilical cord blood transplantation (dUCBT) is rapid and thought to be involved in graft-versus-leukemia (GvL) reactions. To investigate the role of NK cell recovery on clinical outcomes, the absolute number of NK cells at day 28 after dUCBT was determined, and patients with low numbers of NK cells had inferior 2-year disease-free survival (hazard ratio 1.96; P = .04). A detailed developmental and functional analysis of the recovering NK cells was performed to link NK recovery and patient survival. The proportion of NK cells in each developmental stage was similar for patients with low, medium, and high day 28 NK cell numbers. As compared with healthy controls, patients posttransplant showed reduced NK functional responses upon K562 challenge (CD107a, interferon-γ, and tumor necrosis factor-α); however, there were no differences based on day 28 NK cell number. Patients with low NK numbers had 30% less STAT5 phosphorylation in response to exogenous interleukin-15 (IL-15) (P = .04) and decreased Eomes expression (P = .025) compared with patients with high NK numbers. Decreased STAT5 phosphorylation and Eomes expression may be indicative of reduced sensitivity to IL-15 in the low NK cell group. Incubation of patient samples with IL-15 superagonist (ALT803) increased cytotoxicity and cytokine production in all patient groups. Thus, clinical interventions, including administration of IL-15 early after transplantation, may increase NK cell number and function and, in turn, improve transplantation outcomes.