G-CSF therapy for patients relapsing after allogeneic bone marrow transplantation

High-dose melphalan and allogeneic peripheral blood stem cell transplantation for treatment of early relapse after allogeneic transplant

“…[6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18] Other studies have involved stimulation of donor-derived immune responses or inhibition of the leukemic clone using cytokines such as interferon, G-CSF or interleukin-2. [19][20][21][22][23] Early relapses occurring during the first year post transplant carry an ominous prognosis with few patients responding to immune manipulation, chemotherapeutic maneuvers or second myeloablative therapies, which are associated with an extremely high risk of toxicity and treatment-related mortality.Immunological approaches such as interferon or donor lymphocyte infusion have been generally successful in chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) relapsing in chronic phase, but not in acute leukemia or CML in transformed phases. The failure of immunological approaches in these diseases may be due in part to the proliferative rate of malignant cells and the long interval required for buffy coat infusions to exert an immune therapeutic effect.…”