Recovery of natural killer cells and prognosis after cord blood transplantation

The relationship between immune reconstitution and the prognosis after cord blood transplantation is unclear. We investigated the influence of natural killer (NK) cell recovery on transplant outcomes. The maximum number of CD56+CD3− cells or CD57+CD16+ cells was determined to assess NK recovery. Although the high CD56+CD3− group and high CD57+CD16+ group showed significantly better overall survival (OS) than the low group on univariate analysis, the high CD57+CD16+ group was associated with better OS on multivariate analysis. These results suggest that CD57+CD16+ cell recovery is more closely related to the outcome after CBT than CD56+CD3− cell recovery.