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Workshop on haploidentical stem cell transplantation: Chicago, Illinois, USA, 18-19 November 2000

Leukemia volume 16, pages 424–426 (2002)Cite this article

Haplo-identical donors are a source of hematopoietic stem cells, along with cord blood, for those 20% of individuals for whom a fully matched donor is unavailable. Transplant experience with these donors over the last 15 years has demonstrated feasibility, but the incidences of graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) and graft rejection have been significantly higher, and the survival lower, than with matched donors. An important lesson from this early experience, not to be forgotten, is that disease-free survival is better when patients are transplanted in remission rather than relapse, something to bear in mind when assessing this procedure in the future.

The Chicago and Perugia meetings signaled a new momentum, stimulated by the recent results from the basic research of Reisner's group at the Weizmann Institute in Israel, and the later application of their techniques to humans, which culminated in the excellent clinical results in adults from Martelli's group at Perugia, and in children from Handgretinger's group at Tübingen, and O'Reilly's group in New York. Preparative regimens are now more specific, and there are automated cell selection devices available which provide large number of purified stem cells virtually devoid of T lymphocytes. At the Chicago meeting a number of new groups reported pilot studies, demonstrating the practicality of the new approaches. In the United States progress is hindered by lack of the cell selection devices which are freely available in Europe and Canada. Nevertheless, a few groups from the United States have been able to complete pilot studies using FDA approved protocols.

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  1. McMaster University Medical Centre, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

    IR Walker

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Walker, I. Workshop on haploidentical stem cell transplantation: Chicago, Illinois, USA, 18-19 November 2000. Leukemia 16, 424–426 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.leu.2402385

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