Allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation for malignant disease: How to prevent graft-versus-host disease without jeopardizing the graft-versus-tumor effect?

The graft-versus leukemia (GVL) effect, closely related to allogeneic stem cell tranplantation, plays a crucial role in curing the disease but is often associated with a deleterious reaction, called graft-versus-host disease (GVHD). So far, most strategies aiming at reducing GVHD also diminish the GVL effect. We try here to give an overview of strategies that could reduce GVHD without affecting GVL, or augment GVL without increasing GVHD or achieve both at the same time.

Section editors:Claudine Bruck – GlaxoSmithKline, King of Prussia, USAMichel Goldman – University of Brussels, Brussels, Belgium