Expansion and characterization of immune suppressive CD56(bright)Perforin(-) regulatory-like natural killer cells in chronic graft-versus-host disease.

Background: Chronic graft-versus-host disease (cGvHD) is a major cause of morbidity and mortality after Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation (HSCT). Previously, in large patient cohorts, we identified increased numbers of CD56Perforin regulatory-like NK cells (NK-like) associated with cGvHD suppression. Thus, we hypothesized that NK-like cells may be a potential candidate for cGvHD cell therapy.