[Immunotherapy of acute myeloid leukemias: development of vaccines and cell therapy approaches]

Prognosis of acute myeloblastic leukemias (AML) remains with relapse, at a time when progress in chemotherapy regimens have increased the rate of complete remission, and improved biological tools have helped in defining diagnostic and prognostic criteria for this heterogeneous group of diseases. Allogeneic stem cell transplantation offers an example of a situation in which various immune effectors can contribute to the eradication of residual leukemic cells. However, use of allogeneic transplantation is restricted to a minority of patients. Thus, the development of immunotherapy strategies that could be used for all patients, appears highly desirable. Progress in fundamental immunology, and a better understanding of the role of the immune system in the physiopathology of leukemias now open new avenues to design innovative therapies. We here review recently published observations in this field, and propose new vaccine programs that use autologous AML blasts differentiated into dendritic cells.