The ability of allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) to cure certain hematologic malignancies is widely recognized. An important therapeutic aspect of HCT in eradicating malignant cells is the graft-versus-leukemia (GVL) effect. The importance of the GVL effect in allogeneic HCT…
Cord Blood as a Stem Cell Source It is well established that ethnic minorities have a low likelihood of matching with an unrelated hematopoietic stem cell donor. In recent years, there has been increasing interest in alternative stem cell donors…
Introduction Allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (alloHSCT) is an effective treatment for a wide range of hematologic malignancies, nonmalignant hematologic diseases, and immunologic disorders. Sources of donor stem cells for alloHSCT include human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-matched siblings (MSD), HLA-matched unrelated…
The outcomes of unrelated donor hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) have greatly improved as a result of a better understanding of the diversity of human leukocyte antigen (HLA) and killer-cell immunoglobulin-like receptor (KIR) genes. The HLA and KIR genetic systems regulate…
Background Early reports of leukemia-free survival, following human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-identical sibling hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) for refractory acute leukemia, was reported in the 1970s. Since then, allogeneic HCT has evolved into an effective and increasingly safe, curative, and intent…
The use of gene transfer to treat human diseases has now been demonstrated to be efficacious in a growing number of indications. Proof-of-principle successes in several monogenic diseases—both hematologic and non-hematologic—have been published and widely publicized in the past decade.…
It has been more than 70 years since allogeneic hematopoietic stem cells (HSC) were first transplanted to human recipients in the form of bone marrow. Since that time, the source of HSC has widened to include autologous bone marrow, growth…
Hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) products for autologous or allogeneic transplantation are available from bone marrow (BM), peripheral blood, or umbilical cord blood (UCB) sources. Bone marrow was the original source of cells for transplantation because of the ease and reliability…
The past several decades have seen a marked improvement in survival for patients with hematologic malignancies. The 5-year survival is as follows: leukemia, 66%; Hodgkin lymphoma (HL), 89%; non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL), 75%; and multiple myeloma (MM), 54%. As a consequence,…
Palliative care for seriously ill children and adults is provided by an interdisciplinary team of clinicians who focus on communication about values and goals of care and ameliorating suffering from physical, social, spiritual, existential, and psychological concerns. Members of the…