An introduction to chemokines and their roles in transfusion medicine

Abstract

Chemokines are a set of structurally related peptides that were first characterized as chemoattractants and have subsequently been shown to have many functions in homeostasis and pathophysiology. Diversity and redundancy of chemokine function is imparted by both selectivity and overlap in the specificity of chemokine receptors for their ligands. Chemokines have roles impacting transfusion medicine in haematopoiesis, haematologic malignancies, transfusion reactions, graft-versus-host disease, and viral infections. In haematopoietic cell transplantation, chemokines are active in mobilization and homing of progenitor cells, as well as mediating T-cell recruitment in graft-versus-host disease. Platelets are rich source of chemokines that recruit and activate leucocytes during thrombosis. Important transfusion-transmissible viruses such as cytomegalovirus and human immunodeficiency virus exploit chemokine receptors to evade host immunity. Chemokines may also have roles in the pathophysiology of haemolytic and non-haemolytic transfusion reactions.

Is the number of blood products transfused associated with lower survival in children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia?

“…Additional factors that have been implicated regarding TRIM include (1) the release of arginase from stored PRBC, which causes impaired host lymphocyte function 30 that may facilitate the TA‐MC phenomenon and (2) the production of chemokines, which participate in neutrophil activation and contribute to the capillary leakage phenomenon 31. It is also possible that due to the conditions for their preparation, PC may favor engraftment of activated mononuclear cells.…”

“…A reduced incidence of postoperative infections has been observed in patients receiving leukocyte‐depleted PRBC transfusions leading to reduced hospital costs; 22 in cardiac surgery, a reduced mortality was observed in patients receiving leukocyte‐depleted PRBC 39. Pre‐storage leukocyte reduction has been shown to virtually eliminate production of leukocyte‐derived chemokines and some other cytokines 31. For ALL patients with a depressed immune system and receiving chemotherapy, leukodepletion can arguably prevent the TRIM effect and may help to avoid untoward effects of allogeneic transfusion; however, leukoreduction strategies have not clearly shown to prevent TA‐MC 11.…”

Removal by adsorbent beads of biological response modifiers released from platelets, accumulated during storage, and potentially associated with platelet transfusion reactions

“…In addition, antibodies against plasma proteins, such as immunoglobulin A or haptoglobin, may react with plasma proteins in transfused PCs; 15‐18 thus, transfusion reactions are reported in recipients with a deficiency in any of these plasma proteins. Several biological response modifiers (BRMs), including cytokines, 19,20 chemokines, 21 and glycoproteins 22‐26 may also be involved in transfusion reactions. Thus, the various molecules that are responsible for PLT transfusion reactions and the mechanisms by which transfusion reactions are induced after PLT transfusion are complicated and not completely understood.…”

Duffy Blood Group System

“…Chemokines are chemotactic cytokines that are involved in many cellular processes, especially the recruitment, activation, and directional movement of leucocytes [15,131] . Chemokines are chemotactic cytokines that are involved in many cellular processes, especially the recruitment, activation, and directional movement of leucocytes [15,131] .…”