ABSTRACT
Graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) is a major complication of allo-hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. It is reported that IL-2R, TNFR1, elafin (for skin GVHD) and REG-3α (for gastrointestinal GVHD) can be used in the early diagnosis of acute GVHD, but they cannot predict the response to therapy independently. Therefore, it is urgent to find a biomarker to predict GVHD and glucocorticoid resistance. ST2 is a member of IL-1 receptor family and specially binds to IL-33. Researchers have found that higher ST2 level is associated with increased GVHD risk, glucocorticoid resistance and transplantation-related mortality. This review focuses on the structure, function, signal transduction pathway of ST2/IL-33, and its roles in diagnosis and treatment of autoimmune diseases and GVHD.