Is it possible to prevent chronic graft-versus-host disease?
A procedure termed an allogeneic stem cell transplant can deliver the most wished-for outcome in cancer treatment: a cure, for certain patients with severe blood malignancies like certain forms of leukemia. However, graft-versus-host disease , a long-term, devastating disorder, can occur as a result of the treatment (GVHD). When immune cells from the donor are supplied together with stem cells during transplantation, they target healthy tissues in the recipient's body as well as cancer cells, resulting in GVHD. A recent study suggests that eliminating immunecells known as naïve T cells from donor cells before transplantation may be a technique to avoid persistent GVHD after a stem cell transplant. The researchers discovered that this significantly lowered the probability of chronic GVHD in study participants while having no effect on their chances of recurrence. Blood malignancies are caused by stem cells in the bone marrow, which create all of the body's blood cells, ...