Description
The history of tumour immunotherapy has, with a few notable exceptions, been largely disappointing. However, our understanding of the scientific basis of cellular immunotherapy has increased enormously in recent years. This, together with the improved management of patients undergoing haematopoietic stem cell transplantation, means that we now face an unrivalled oppurtunity to apply immunotherapy to haematological malignancies.
We know that the mechanism of cure of allogeneic BMT is immunological, the so-called graft-versus-leukaemia effect. We know that low-grade graft-versus-host disease post transplant is associated with T cell depletion or high-dose immunosuppression increases this risk. It is the challenge of this decade to harness GvL whilst ablating GvHD in the recipients of allogeneic transplants and to generate anti-leukaemic activity in the autologous setting.
