title: Survival after bone marrow transplantation from cytomegalovirus seropositive sibling donors.
abstract: HLA-A2-restricted T cells show peptide-specific activity against cytomegalovirus and leukaemia cells. We retrospectively analysed the influence of donor cytomegalovirus serostatus on the outcome of 103 consecutive patients who had leukaemia and who received bone-marrow transplants from HLA-identical sibling donors. We found that donor cytomegalovirus seropositivity significantly improved overall survival (p=0.02) as a result of lower relapse incidence (p=0.035) in HLA-A2-positive but not HLA-A2-negative recipients. In HLA-A2-positive recipients donor cytomegalovirus seropositivity was associated with chronic graft-versus-host disease (GVHD), but even in patients without chronic GVHD donor cytomegalovirus seropositivity significantly improved survival (p=0.0483). These preliminary data provide evidence that at least in HLA-A2-positive recipients, transplantation of bone marrow from cytomegalovirus positive, HLA-identical sibling donors seems to be associated with substantial graft-versus-leukaemia activity, and suggests a cross-reactivity of cytomegalovirus-specific donor-derived cytotoxic T cells with HLA-A2-restricted recipient minor histocompatibility antigens.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Nachbaur
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Bonatti
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Oberaigner
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Eibl
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Kropshofer
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Gastl
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Nussbaumer
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Einsele
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Larcher
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D016026:Bone Marrow Transplantation; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D003587:Cytomegalovirus / Q000276:immunology*; D005260:Female; D015789:HLA-A2 Antigen / Q000302:isolation & purification; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007938:Leukemia / Q000401:mortality / Q000628:therapy*; D008297:Male; D009679:Nuclear Family; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D016019:Survival Analysis
chemical_list: D015789:HLA-A2 Antigen