NCI First International Workshop on the Biology, Prevention and Treatment of Relapse after Allogeneic Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation: Report from the Committee on Prevention of Relapse Following Allogeneic Cell Transplantation for Hematologic Malignancies

Prevention of relapse after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation is the most likely approach to improve survival of patients treated for hematologic malignancies. Herein we review the limits of currently available transplant therapies and the innovative strategies being developed to overcome resistance to therapy or to fill therapeutic modalities not currently available. These novel strategies include nonimmunologic therapies, such as targeted preparative regimens and posttransplant drug therapy, as well as immunologic interventions, including graft engineering, donor lymphocyte infusions, T cell engineering, vaccination, and dendritic cell-based approaches. Several aspects of the biology of the malignant cells as well as the host have been identified that obviate success of even these newer strategies. To maximize the potential for success, we recommend pursuing research to develop additional targeted therapies to be used in the preparative regimen or as maintenance posttransplant, better characterize the T cell and dendritic cells subsets involved in graft-versus-host disease and the graft-versus-leukemia/tumor effect, identify strategies for timing immunologic or nonimmunologic therapies to eliminate the noncycling cancer stem cell, identify more targets for immunotherapies, develop new vaccines that will not be limited by HLA, and develop methods to identify populations at very high risk for relapse to accelerate clinical development and avoid toxicity in patients not at risk for relapse

Tacrolimus does not abrogate the increased risk of acute graft-versus-host disease after unrelated-donor marrow transplantation with allelic mismatching at HLA-DRB1 and HLA-DQB1

AbstractOne hundred patients of median age 34 years (range, 14-53) received bone marrow transplants from unrelated donors serologically matched for human leukocyte antigen HLA-A, HLA-B, and HLA-DR using tacrolimus and minimethotrexate for prevention of acute graft-versus-host disease (GVHD). Sixty-eight patient-donor pairs had allelic matches at HLA-DRB1 and HLA-DQB1, 20 pairs had a single mismatch at HLA-DRB1 or HLA-DQB1, and 12 were mismatched at both HLA-DRB1 and HLA-DQB1. Minimum follow-up time was 6 months. Grades 2 to 4 GVHD occurred in 43% of patients with matched donors, 69% with single allele-mismatched donors, and 71% with double allele-mismatched donors; grades 3 to 4 GVHD occurred in 22%, 43%, and 64%, respectively. On multivariate analysis, the relative risk of grades 2 to 4 GVHD was 2.2 (95% CI, 1.1-4.5; P = .03) with a single allele mismatch and 2.7 (95% CI, 1.2-6.0; P = .02) with a double allele mismatch. The relative risks of grades 3 to 4 GVHD were 3.0 (95% CI, 1.2-7.6; P = .02) and 5.0 (95% CI, 1.9-12.6; P = .001), respectively. Day 100 treatment-related mortality was also adversely affected by allelic mismatching, occurring in 21% of those with matched donors, 50% with single allele-mismatched donors, and 42% with double allele-mismatched donors (P = .02), but overall survival at day 180 did not differ significantly among the 3 groups. Tacrolimus does not abrogate the adverse impact of allele mismatching at HLA-DRB1 and HLA-DQB1 on the risk of moderate-to-severe acute GVHD.Biol Blood Marrow Transplant 2000;6(2A):190-7

SELECTED ASPECTS OF THE IMMUNOBIOLOGY AND IMMUNOTHERAPY OF THE MOPC-315 PLASMACYTOMA.

SELECTED ASPECTS OF THE IMMUNOBIOLOGY AND IMMUNOTHERAPY OF THE MOPC-315 PLASMACYTOMA