title: Human gammadelta(+) T lymphocytes have in vitro graft vs leukemia activity in the absence of an allogeneic response.
abstract: Refractory acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is often incurable, and relapse rates following allogeneic bone marrow transplantation (BMT) remain high. We have reported that patients who develop increased numbers of gammadelta(+) T cells soon after BMT are significantly less likely to relapse. We now show in seven donor/recipient pairs that donor-derived Vdelta1(+)CD4(-)CD8(-)gammadelta(+) T cells are activated and proliferate in response to recipient primary ALL blasts. In addition, these cells have been shown to bind and lyse the recipient ALL blasts. Separately, gammadelta(+) T cells proliferate poorly or not at all in mixed lymphocyte culture against HLA-mismatched unrelated stimulator cells. These observations suggest that allogeneic gammadelta(+) T cells could be an effective immunotherapeutic strategy against refractory disease without the risk of graft-versus-host disease.
authors.affiliation: University of South Carolina, South Carolina Cancer Center, Columbia 29203, USA.
authors.forename: L S
authors.initials: LS
authors.lastname: Lamb
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Musk
authors.forename: Z
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Ye
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: van Rhee
authors.forename: S S
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Geier
authors.forename: J J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Tong
authors.forename: K M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: King
authors.forename: P J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Henslee-Downey
mesh_terms: D003602:Cytotoxicity, Immunologic; D020544:Graft vs Leukemia Effect / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D007167:Immunotherapy / Q000379:methods; D007959:Lymphocyte Culture Test, Mixed; D008222:Lymphokines / Q000502:physiology*; D009000:Monocytes / Q000276:immunology; D054198:Precursor Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy; D016692:Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, gamma-delta / Q000276:immunology*; D013602:T-Lymphocytes, Cytotoxic / Q000276:immunology*; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D008222:Lymphokines; D016692:Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, gamma-delta; C022780:allogenic effect factor