MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Hrishikesh Srinagesh MD The Tisch Cancer Institute at Mount Sinai MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) is the leading cause of non-relapse mortality (NRM) after allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT). Acute GVHD occurs in approximately 50% of HCT patients and targets the skin, liver, and gastrointestinal tract primarily. The change in clinical symptoms (e.g. reduction in volume of diarrhea) is used as the primary endpoint in most trials of acute GVHD treatment, but more accurate metrics are needed to predict long-term survival. Over the past decade, the Mount Sinai Acute GVHD International Consortium (MAGIC) has studied two biomarkers important in GVHD pathogenesis: suppressor of tumorigenesis 2 (ST2) and regenerating islet-derived 3 alpha (REG3). These proteins are shed into the bloodstream when the gastrointestinal tract is damaged during GVHD, the most lethal form of acute GVHD. The concentrations of ST2 and REG3 can be used generate an individual’s estimated probability of 6 month NRM known as the MAGIC Algorithm Probability (MAP). Our study evaluated whether the MAP measured at the start of GVHD treatment and four weeks later could predict long-term survival and we compared the MAP to clinical response after four weeks, the gold standard of response.  (more…)