N-acetylcysteine mildly inhibits the graft-vs.-leukemia effect but not the lymphokine activated cells (LAK) activity

N-acetylcysteine (NAC) is a known antioxidant and induces modulation of glutathione cellular content effects. It has been suggested that in the context of stem cell transplantation (SCT), NAC can prevent and treat graft-vs.-host disease, veno-occlusive disease and idiopathic pneumonia syndrome.We investigated the possible effect of NAC on graft-vs.-leukemia effect (GVL) and lymphokine activated cells (LAK) activity in murine models.After 10 days of NAC treatment, the cytotoxic activity of the LAK cells did not significantly differ from LAK activity generated from spleen cells obtained from untreated controls. However, NAC mildly suppressed GVL (appearance of leukemia in 8/36 animals treated with NAC as compared to 0/20 in the SCT control group, p = 0.023). In spite of this mild suppression of GVL, no negative effect on achievement of donor chimerism was seen.We conclude that NAC usage in SCT may be relatively safe with regard to the GVL effect, yet further clinical studies are warranted.