Abstract
Donor T cells play a critical role in mediating both harmful graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) and beneficial graft-versus-tumor effect after allogeneic bone marrow transplantation (BMT). We have recently demonstrated a novel treatment strategy to stimulate specific antitumor activity with preservation of tolerance to host antigens after T cell-depleted allogeneic BMT by vaccination of recipients with irradiated B16 melanoma cells engineered to secrete granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor. In this murine system, donor leukocyte infusion from a donor immunized with the recipient-derived B16 vaccines enhanced clinical activity of tumor vaccines without exacerbating GVHD. CD4+ T cells are essential for this enhancement. In vitro analysis of splenocytes from donor leukocyte infusion donor mice demonstrated that immunization of donors with the recipient-derived B16 vaccines elicited potent T-cell proliferation and cytokine responses specific to B16 antigens. These results demonstrate that immunization of donors with recipient-derived tumor vaccines preferentially induces tumor-specific T-cell responses and that vaccination of both donors and recipients can generate potent antitumor immunity without exacerbating GVHD. This strategy has important implications to prevent recurrence of malignancies after BMT.
| Original language | American English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 796-800 |
| Number of pages | 5 |
| Journal | Cancer Research |
| Volume | 62 |
| Issue number | 3 |
| State | Published - Feb 1 2002 |
| Externally published | Yes |
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Oncology
- Cancer Research