Can we prevent or treat graft-versus-host disease with cellular-therapy?

Acute and chronic graft-versus-host disease (GvHD) are the most important causes of treatment-related morbidity and mortality after allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplants for various diseases. Corticosteroids are an effective therapy in only about one-half of affected individuals and new therapy options are needed. We discuss novel strategies to treat GvHD using cellular-therapy including adoptive transfer of regulatory T-cells (T_regs), mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs), cells derived from placental tissues, invariant natural killer T-cells (iNKTs), and myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs).These strategies may be more selective than drugs in modulating GvHD pathophysiology, and may be safer and more effective than conventional pharmacologic therapies. Additionally, these therapies have not been observed to substantially compromise the graft-versus-tumor effect associated with allotransplants. Many of these strategies are effective in animal models but substantial data in humans are lacking.