Processing the Hematopoietic Progenitor Grafts andTheir Use in Clinical Practice

Overview

Autologous stemcell transplantation has been successfully used in treatment of various hematologicalmalignanciesand solid tumors in children and adults. Published data have confirmed that bone marrow harvests and peripheralblood stem cell collections frequently contain a significant number of tumor cells. Contaminating tumor cells cancontribute to the disease relapse in posttransplant period, so attempts are made to eliminate contaminating tumorcells from autografts. In the case of allogenic transplantation, T-lymphocytes depletion from graft decreases the riskof the graft versus host disease after transplantation. In this article we comment techniques available and methodused for elimination of tumor cells. Commentary is aimed on potential benefits and risks of every method.

Key words:
ex vivo purging, bone marrow transplantation, minimal residual disease.