AUTOLOGOUS GVHD FOLLOWING PBSCT, WITH EVIDENCE FOR A GRAFT-VERSUS-MYELOMA EFFECT

The development of GVHD following allogeneic BMT is known to be closel y associated with significant antileukaemic activity, Immunological gr aft-versus-leukaemia (GVL) effects are now well established and are co mmonly exploited in the treatment of leukaemic relapse following allog eneic transplantation by the use of donor lymphocyte infusions, More r ecently a graft-versus-myeloma (GVM) effect following allogeneic trans plantation has been documented, suggesting that eradication of haemato logical malignancies following allogeneic transplantation is achieved at least in part by immunological mechanisms, It is now also establish ed that spontaneous GVHD can occur following autologous transplantatio n and can be induced by cyclosporin A administration, However, there i s only limited evidence that the development of autologous GVHD has an antitumour effect, We report for the first time the development of au tologous GVHD following PBSC transplantation for myeloma apparently re sulting in a GVM effect.