• Association between Treg subsets and acute graft-vs-host disease outcomes, including incidence, severity, target organ involvement, and responsiveness to therapy [ Designated as safety issue: No ]
• Comparison of possible risk factors (e.g., percentage of Tregs) with survival [ Designated as safety issue: No ]

RATIONALE: Studying samples of blood from patients with cancer in the laboratory may help doctors predict whether patients undergoing donor stem cell transplant will develop acute graft-versus-host disease.

PURPOSE: This clinical trial is studying T cells to see how well they help in predicting acute graft-versus-host disease in patients undergoing donor stem cell transplant.

OBJECTIVES:

• To determine the association between regulatory T-lymphocyte (Treg) subsets present at engraftment and at day 30 with the incidence of acute graft-versus-host-disease (aGVHD) in patients undergoing allogeneic stem cell transplantation.
• To identify gut-homing and skin-homing Treg subsets and determine their role during engraftment and at day 30 as a predictor of gut and skin aGVHD, respectively.

OUTLINE: Patients undergo blood sample collection at the time of neutrophil engraftment and at 30 and 90 days after allogeneic stem cell transplantation. Blood samples are analyzed for T-cell subsets and for the percentage of regulatory T-lymphocyte (Treg) or other T-cell subsets expressing specific homing receptors for the gut or skin via flow cytometry.

Patients' medical records are also reviewed periodically.

• Breast Cancer
• Chronic Myeloproliferative Disorders
• Gestational Trophoblastic Tumor
• Leukemia
• Lymphoma
• Multiple Myeloma and Plasma Cell Neoplasm
• Myelodysplastic Syndromes
• Myelodysplastic/Myeloproliferative Diseases
• Neuroblastoma
• Ovarian Cancer
• Testicular Germ Cell Tumor

• Other: flow cytometry
• Other: laboratory biomarker analysis
• Other: medical chart review

DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS:

• Undergoing allogeneic stem cell transplantation

  • No more than 10 days from neutrophil engraftment
  • No death prior to neutrophil engraftment

PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS:

• No other condition that, in the opinion of the investigator, would interfere with study objectives
• No other reason that, in the opinion of the investigator, would add additional risk to the patient

PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY:

• See Disease Characteristics