{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,20]],"date-time":"2026-10-20T16:51:44Z","timestamp":1792515104121,"version":"4.5.0"},"reference-count":51,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,20]],"date-time":"2026-02-20T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1771545600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001659","name":"Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001659","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Immunol."],"abstract":"<jats:p>\n                    Chronic graft-versus-host disease (cGVHD) remains the most significant long-term complication after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT), despite increasing insights into its pathogenesis. The development of reliable prognostic biomarkers is essential for identifying patients at high risk of developing cGVHD which may benefit from pre-emptive intervention. However, valid biomarkers remain elusive, and cGVHD is typically treated after clinical onset only, when irreversible manifestations such as ocular involvement may already be present. In this exploratory study, we identified ten cytokines and chemokines with potential prognostic value for predicting subsequent cGVHD. Using bead-based multiplex analysis, we assessed serum samples from 60 adult allo-HSCT recipients at day +90 and day +180 post-transplant to identify proteins distinguishing patients who later developed cGVHD from those who remained tolerant. Significant differences were found in the serum levels of BAFF, CCL4, CXCL9, and sRAGE between patients with\n                    <jats:italic>de novo<\/jats:italic>\n                    cGVHD and those without GVHD. In contrast, elevated IL-6, IL-17A, PAI-1, IL-10, CX3CL1, CXCL1, and CCL4 levels were prognostic for quiescent cGVHD compared with patients with resolved acute GVHD only. These findings underscore the biological heterogeneity of cGVHD and the limited value of single-biomarker approaches, emphasizing the need to consider distinct clinical subgroups and prior disease courses in future predictive models.\n                  <\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3389\/fimmu.2026.1760111","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,20]],"date-time":"2026-02-20T05:21:50Z","timestamp":1771564910000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["De novo and quiescent cGVHD are distinguishable in a prognostic biomarker panel"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"17","author":[{"given":"Lara","family":"Vollmer","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Internal Medicine 5 \u2013 Hematology and Oncology, University Hospital Erlangen","place":["Erlangen, Germany"]},{"name":"Department of Biology, Division of Genetics, Nikolaus-Fiebiger-Center for Molecular Medicine, Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nuremberg","place":["Erlangen, Germany"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Katharina M.","family":"Habenicht","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Internal Medicine 5 \u2013 Hematology and Oncology, University Hospital Erlangen","place":["Erlangen, Germany"]},{"name":"Department of Biology, Division of Genetics, Nikolaus-Fiebiger-Center for Molecular Medicine, Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nuremberg","place":["Erlangen, Germany"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Andrea","family":"Schneider","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Biology, Division of Genetics, Nikolaus-Fiebiger-Center for Molecular Medicine, Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nuremberg","place":["Erlangen, Germany"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Matthias","family":"Fante","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Internal Medicine III, University Hospital Regensburg","place":["Regensburg, Germany"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Andreas","family":"Mackensen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Internal Medicine 5 \u2013 Hematology and Oncology, University Hospital Erlangen","place":["Erlangen, Germany"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Julia","family":"Winkler","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Internal Medicine 5 \u2013 Hematology and Oncology, University Hospital Erlangen","place":["Erlangen, Germany"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Daniel","family":"Wolff","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Internal Medicine III, University Hospital Regensburg","place":["Regensburg, Germany"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Thomas H.","family":"Winkler","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Biology, Division of Genetics, Nikolaus-Fiebiger-Center for Molecular Medicine, Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nuremberg","place":["Erlangen, Germany"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,20]]},"reference":[{"key":"B1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1146\/annurev.immunol.25.022106.141606","article-title":"Immunobiology of allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation","volume":"25","author":"Welniak","year":"2007","journal-title":"Annu Rev Immunol"},{"key":"B2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1001\/archinte.162.14.1558","article-title":"Allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation: complications and results","volume":"162","author":"Tabbara","year":"2002","journal-title":"Arch Intern Med"},{"key":"B3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/S0140-6736(09)60237-3","article-title":"Graft-versus-host disease","volume":"373","author":"Ferrara","year":"2009","journal-title":"Lancet"},{"key":"B4","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1182\/blood-2002-01-0011","article-title":"Comparison of chronic graft-versus-host disease after transplantation of peripheral blood stem cells versus bone marrow in allogeneic recipients: long-term follow-up of a randomized trial","volume":"100","author":"Flowers","year":"2002","journal-title":"Blood"},{"key":"B5","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1182\/blood-2001-11-0059","article-title":"Chronic graft-versus-host disease in children: incidence, risk factors, and impact on outcome","volume":"100","author":"Zecca","year":"2002","journal-title":"Blood"},{"key":"B6","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jtct.2021.03.029","article-title":"National institutes of health consensus development project on criteria for clinical trials in chronic graft-versus-host disease: IIb. 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