Clonal hematopoiesis was prevalent in aplastic anemia. Some mutations were related to clinical outcomes. A highly biased set of mutations is evidence of Darwinian selection in the failed bone marrow environment. The pattern of somatic clones in individual patients over time was variable and frequently unpredictable. (Funded by Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research and others.).

No abstract

Memory stem T cells (TSCMs) constitute a long-lived, self-renewing lymphocyte population essential for the maintenance of functional immunity. Hallmarks of autoimmune disease pathogenesis are abnormal CD4+ and CD8+ T cell activation. We investigated the TSCM subset in 55, 34, 43, and 5 patients with acquired aplastic anemia (AA), autoimmune uveitis, systemic lupus erythematosus, and sickle cell disease, respectively, as well as in 41 age-matched healthy controls. CD8+ TSCM frequency was significantly increased in AA compared with healthy controls. An increased CD8+ TSCM frequency at diagnosis was associated with responsiveness to immunosuppressive therapy, and an elevated CD8+ TSCM population after immunosuppressive therapy correlated with treatment failure or relapse in AA patients. IFN-γ and IL-2 production was significantly increased in various CD8+ and CD4+ T cell subsets in AA patients, including CD8+ and CD4+ TSCMs. CD8+ TSCM frequency was also increased in patients with autoimmune uveitis or sickle cell disease. A positive correlation between CD4+ and CD8+ TSCM frequencies was found in AA, autoimmune uveitis, and systemic lupus erythematosus. Evaluation of PD-1, CD160, and CD244 expression revealed that TSCMs were less exhausted compared with other types of memory T cells. Our results suggest that the CD8+ TSCM subset is a novel biomarker and a potential therapeutic target for AA.