Dr. Perales on GVHD and T Cell Depletion

Miguel-Angel Perales, MD, deputy chief, Adult Bone Marrow Transplant Service, director, Adult Bone Marrow Transplantation Fellowship Program, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, discusses graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) and T cell depletion.

Perales says GVHD is one of the main complications of an allogeneic stem cell transplant. In GVHD, the immune system of the donor rejects the patient. This causes significant complications and increases the risk of death, Perales says.

When drugs are used to try to prevent GVHD, the risk of acute GVHD is 40-50% while the risk of chronic GVHD is about 50-60%. Perales says complications caused by GVHD can cause patients to die after the transplant.

Since T cells are the cells that cause GVHD, researchers at Memorial-Sloan Kettering take out the T cells in the graft. The procedure, known as T cell depletion, is done by the CliniMACS® CD34 Reagent System.