Donor leukocyte infusion after allogeneic bone marrow transplantation was not effective for relapsed rhabdomyosarcoma

A 10-year-old boy with metastatic rhabdomyosarcoma had an HLA-identical sibling and received an allogeneic BMT. Recurrence was detected in the BM as the only site of treatment failure 12 months after BMT. Donor leukocyte infusion (DLI) was chosen as salvage therapy. Although sufficient cells (a total of 29.7 x 10(7)/kg) were infused, no signs of acute GVHD nor BM aplasia occurred and the patient died of disease progression 9 months after DLI.