Favorable outcomes in patients with high donor-derived T cell count after in vivo T cell-depleted reduced-intensity allogeneic stem cell transplantation.

Patients with hematologic malignancies were conditioned using a rabbit antithymocyte globulin-based reduced-intensity conditioning regimen for allogeneic stem cell transplantation. Donor-derived CD3(+) cell count (ddCD3), a product of CD3(+) cell chimerism and absolute CD3(+) cell count, when <110/μL at 8 weeks post-stem cell transplantation predicted a high risk of sustained mixed chimerism and relapse. Alternatively, patients with a higher ddCD3 developed graft-versus-host disease more frequently, and when partially chimeric, had higher rates of conversion to full donor chimerism after withdrawal of immunosuppression.

Ipilimumab: a novel treatment for metastatic melanoma.

Objective: To review the mechanism of action, pharmacokinetics, efficacy, safety, drug interactions, dosing, and economic considerations of ipilimumab.

Data Sources: A literature search using MEDLINE (1966-November 2010) was performed using the terms ipilimumab, metastatic melanoma, MDX-010, and MDX-101. Additional data were obtained from meeting abstracts, bibliographies, and media releases.

Plerixafor: a peripheral blood stem cell mobilizer.

Autologous hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) transplantation is a treatment strategy for restoring normal hematopoietic function in patients with select hematologic malignancies. The number of CD34(+) cells available for transplantation has been reported to be the strongest predictor of transplantation success, as measured by rapid and durable hematopoietic recovery. Currently, granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) alone or G-CSF plus chemotherapy are the most commonly used methods for stem cell mobilization.