Trying to overcome residual disease after bone marrow transplantation for hematologic malignancies

Relapse after marrow transplantation occurs despite total body irradiation and high doses of chemotherapy used to prepare the recipient. Recurrence rate is particularly high after autologous transplantation. In order to eliminate minimal residual disease persistent after marrow grafting, immunotherapy is currently being explored as a treatment modality that is non-cross-reactive with radiation and chemotherapy. This review describes first clinical results on the use of interferons and interleukin-2 in marrow transplant recipients as well as attempts to induce graft-versus-leukemia effects.