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Evidence for a graft-versus-tumor effect in a patient treated with marrow ablative chemotherapy and allogeneic bone marrow transplantation for breast cancer

1996; Elsevier BV; Volume: 88; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1182/blood.v88.4.1501.bloodjournal8841501

1528-0020

Brigitte Eibl, H Schwaighofer, David Nachbaur, Ch. Marth, Anne Gächter, Rudolf Knapp, Geertruida H. de Bock, C. Gassner, Lawrence R. Schiller, Finn Bo Petersen, D Niederwieser,

T-cell and B-cell Immunology

Graft-versus-leukemia (GvL) has been shown to be an important immune- mediated antitumor effect in hematologic malignancies. It is still unknown whether such an immunemediated antitumor effect has clinical implications in patients with solid tumors. A 32-year-old woman with inflammatory breast cancer received a bone marrow transplant (BMT) from her HLA-identical sibling. During graft-versus-host disease (GvHD) cytotoxic T lymphocytes were grown and tested in a chromium-release assay against B and T lymphocytes of the patient and donor and against a panel of breast cancer cell lines. Resolution of liver metastases was observed simultaneously with clinical GvHD in the first weeks after transplant. In addition, minor histocompatibility antigen (MiHA)- specific and major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I antigen- restricted cytotoxic T lymphocytes recognizing breast carcinoma target cells were isolated from the blood of the patient. Pretreatment of such target cells with tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha but not with interferon (IFN)-alpha or IFN-gamma increased susceptibility of these cells to lysis by cytotoxic T lymphocytes. Clinical course and in vitro results suggest that a graft-versus-tumor (GvT) effect might exist after allogeneic BMT for breast cancer. However, clinical experience on a larger scale would be required to determine the clinical efficacy of GvT effects in patients with solid tumors.