Intracellular staining of granzyme B and perforin for diagnosis of acute graft-versus-host disease

Acute graft-versus-host disease (aGVHD) is diagnosed based on clinical manifestations and bilirubin levels. Pathological survey is recommended but time-consuming and usually becomes available only after treatment. Thus, an aGVHD-specific maker that could be measured within a day is highly desirable for diagnosis. Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction for cytotoxic molecules, such as granzyme B and perforin, has been reported to be useful in the diagnosis of aGVHD; however, the significance of these markers has not yet been established. Here, we re-evaluated these molecules using intracellular staining and demonstrated that they are correlated with clinical grade of aGVHD, and that they decrease after improvement. These markers might therefore be practical due to the simplicity and rapidity of measurement. (