Early and late extensive chronic graft-versus-host disease in children is characterized by different Th1/Th2 cytokine profiles: findings of the Children's Oncology Group Study ASCT0031.

Numerous mechanisms underlie chronic graft-versus-host disease (cGVHD), including skewing of Th1/Th2 cytokine expression. There are biological differences between early-onset and late-onset cGVHD. To test whether different Th1/Th2 cytokines are associated with early- or late-onset cGVHD, peripheral blood was collected from 63 children enrolled on the Children's Oncology Group Phase III trial ASCT0031 evaluating hydroxychloroquine therapy for newly diagnosed extensive cGVHD.

Differential immune effects mediated by Toll-like receptors stimulation in precursor B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia.

Acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) is the most common paediatric malignancy and, although current therapy is widely effective, relapse remains a significant clinical problem for which new treatment strategies are required. The ligation of Toll-like receptors (TLR) on antigen-presenting cells stimulates the generation of strong T-cell helper type 1 (Th1) adaptive immune responses. Although TLR9 ligation has been shown to enhance immunogenicity of a number of leukaemia cell types, there have been few reports of the effects mediated through other TLR.

Immune evasion strategies of pediatric precursor-B acute lymphoblastic leukemia after allogeneic bone marrow transplantation-a case study.

Bone marrow transplantation (BMT) is the primary curative option for refractory/relapsed pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Although post-transplantation relapse remains a frequent cause of transplantation failure, the mechanisms underlying this are poorly understood. In this study, we compared allogeneic T cell stimulation induced by sequentially obtained precursor-B acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) samples from a single patient with overt graft versus leukemia (GVL) activity.