T cell therapies following hematopoietic stem cell transplantation: surely there must be a better way than DLI?

Advances in the past few years have significantly improved adoptive immunotherapy strategies available following autologous and allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). Minimal residual disease, relapsed disease and viral infections remain a significant cause of mortality in patients undergoing HSCT. Novel therapies are critically needed to overcome these management dilemmas, while sparing the graft-versus-tumor effect and avoiding graft-versus-host disease. This review focuses on the T-cell strategies currently available to allay disease while minimizing toxicities in patients who have undergone HSCT.