New Discovery Can Predict Risk of “Graft-Versus-Host Disease” in Recipients of Graft of Donor T Cells
February 14, 2007 by Gloria Gamat
Filed under Diseases & Conditions
The best way to treat patients with blood cancers (certain leukemias and lymphomas) is by peripheral blood stem-cell grafts from immunologically-matched donors.
The setback however is the risk of one major complication: “graft-versus-host disease” (GVHD) – a rejection of recipient tissues by the donor’s T cells that see their new host as ‘non-self’.
60% of recipients develop GVHD. There used to be no reliable test to predict or determine whether a recipient is likely to develop GVHD or not, until the new discovery published this week in the Public Library of Science Medicine (PLoS Medicine).
The said discovery provides a sure way of identifying cells that will cause GVHD.
According to Prof. Claude Perreault, Université de Montréal, lead author of the study:
“A predictive test that will identify dangerous and non-dangerous donors will allow physicians to choose the best donor. If no ‘non-dangerous donor’ is found, then a physician can give the recipient a more intensive immuno-suppressive treatment to prevent GVHD. This opens the door to hematopoietic cell transplant personalized medicine.”
At the moment, the GVHD risk is the main reason why graft of donor T cells can only be proposed to a few leukemia or lymphoma patients. Once this discovery reaches the hospital bed-side, then more lives will be saved.
Read the full report or the article.
On Wednesday, May 9th, the FDA’s Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee (ODAC) will be voting on whether to recommend marketing approval for orBec (oral beclomethasone dipropionate) for the treatment of gastrointestinal GVHD. orBec is a highly-potent oral corticosteroid that targets inflamed tissue in the GI tract and is intended to reduce the need for systemic immunosuppressive drugs. In a pivotal, Phase III clinical trial, the risk of mortality at 200 days post-transplant was 67% lower compared to placebo. To learn more about orBec visit http://www.dorbiopharma.com, and to learn more about the ODAC meeting visit http://www.fda.gov/OHRMS/DOCKETS/98fr/E7-6171.htm.