Adoptive transfer of unselected or leukemia-reactive T-cells in the treatment of relapse following allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation

Abstract

Adoptive transfer of in vivo generated antigen-specific donor-derived T-cells is increasingly recognized as an effective approach for the treatment or prevention of EBV lymphomas and cytomegalovirus infections complicating allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplants. This review examines evidence from preclinical experiments and initial clinical trials to critically assess both the potential and current limitations of adoptive transfer of donor T-cells sensitized to selected minor alloantigens of the host or to peptide epitopes of proteins, differentially expressed by clonogenic leukemia cells, such as the Wilms tumor protein, WT-1, as a strategy to treat or prevent recurrence of leukemia in the post-transplant period.

Copyright 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Figures

Figure 1

The structure of the WT-1 gene and the WT-1 protein, with mapping of reported peptide epitopes presented by class I or II HLA alleles. The figure also defines domains within the WT-1 protein that may be altered in their function in different isoforms of WT-1 created by splicing within exons 1, 5 or 9.