Recent insights to the mechanisms of graft-versus-host disease

Allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation remains the cornerstone of curative therapy for haematological malignancies but is limited by graft-versus-host disease (GVHD), both acute and chronic. Exciting new approaches have been developed to prevent GVHD in the last 5 years and some have already successfully translated into the clinic. These strategies have been born from new model systems that allow the dissection of alloantigen specific responses that have in turn informed new disease paradigms. In this review, we discuss these recent insights into the biology of GVHD that appear to be highly predictive for improved clinical outcomes.