Immunotherapy in conjunction with autologous bone marrow transplantation

Although high-dose chemoradiotherapy used for conditioning prior to autologous bone marrow transplantation (BMT) represent an effective tool for eradication of certain malignant hematological disorders, relapses indicate that the last tumor cell is unlikely to be completely eradicated. We are investigating several approaches for controlling residual tumor cells escaping from chemoradiotherapy by cellular adoptive immunotherapy and amplification of natural defense mechanisms, using recombinant human IL2 (Cetus, Emeryville CA), in a murine model of leukemia/lymphoma disease (BCL1).