Nilotinib treatment of patients affected by chronic graft-versus-host disease reduces collagen production and skin fibrosis by down-modulating the TGF-β and p-SMAD pathway.

•Chronic graft-versus-host disease (cGVHD) fibroblasts grow slower and become senescent earlier than normal fibroblasts.•Collagen mRNA expression and TGF-β levels are elevated in patients with cGVHD.•Nilotinib reduces TGF-β levels and collagen production by cGVHD fibroblasts.•Nilotinib-induced TGF-β inhibition is associated with an intracellular p-Smad2 decrease.•TGF-β pathway inhibition is a basic antifibrotic mechanism of nilotinib in vivo.