doi:10.1155/2012/690236 Clinical Study Mesenchymal Stromal Cells Do Not Increase the Risk of Viral Reactivation Nor the Severity of Viral Events in Recipients of

Copyright © 2012 Giovanna Lucchini et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Mesenchymal stromal cells (MSC) are tested in clinical trials to treat graft versus host disease (GvHD) after stem cell trans-plantation (SCT). In vitro studies demonstrated MSC’s broad immunosuppressive activity. As infections represent a major risk after SCT, it is important to understand the role of MSC in this context. We analyzed 24 patients (pts) receiving MSC for GvHD in our Unit between 2009 and 2011. We recorded viral reactivations as measured in whole blood with polymerase chain reaction for 100 days following MSC administration. In patients with a documented viral reactivation in the first 3 days following MSCs infusion the frequency of virus-specific IFNgamma-producing cells was determined through enzyme-linked immunospot assay. In our cohort of patients viral reactivation after MSC infusion occurred in 45 % of the cases, which did not significantly differ from th