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Patients with acute graft-versus-host disease (aGVHD) that is resistant to steroid therapy have few treatment options. Ruxolitinib, a selective inhibitor of Janus kinase (JAK) 1/2, suppresses a variety of pro-inflammatory cytokines, several of which might contribute to the severity of aGVHD.
To determine whether ruxolitinib would be effective in ameliorating steroid-refractory aGVHD, investigators from Germany conducted preliminary experiments in a mouse model of GVHD, and then studied six patients with this disease. Their findings were as follows:
In the mouse model, ruxolitinib significantly decreased the levels of tumor necrosis factor α and interleukin (IL)-12p70, as well as allogeneic reactive T-cells, and increased the number of regulat…