Reduced Expression of Vascular Cell Adhesion Molecule-l on Bone Marrow Stromal Cells Isolated From Marrow Transplant Recipients Correlates With a Reduced Capacity to Support Human B Lymphopoiesis In Vitro

A common sequela to allogeneic or autologous bone marrow transplantation (BMT) is a delay in the reconstitution of a functional B-cell immune response. Therefore, we examined whether the posttransplant BM microenvironment is deficient in supporting the proliferation and/or differentiation of B-cell precursors. BM stromal cell cultures were established from patients who received allogeneic or autologous BMT for acute lymphoblastic leukemia, Hodgkin‘s disease, or non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. These cuttures were then compared with normal donor BM stromal cell cultures for expression of adhesion molecules and the capacity to support the adhesion and interleukin-7 (IL7)-dependent growth of normal B-cell precursors. Analysis of BM stromal cell cultures established from 28 BMT recipients showed a significantly reduced expression of cell surface vascular cell adhesion molecule-l (VCAM-l/CDlOG), compared with nor-