Dendritic cell vaccination for relapse after allogeneic transplantation

Allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (allo-HCT) is a potentially curative treatment for many patients with hematological malignancies. The success of allo-HCT is largely based on graft-versus-tumor effects. A fraction of patients who relapse after allo-HCT can be salvaged by donor lymphocyte infusion, thereby providing evidence of the importance of immune responses in cancer rejection. There is evidence that host dendritic cells (DCs) play a critical role in priming donor T cells to induce anti-tumor responses. We hypothesize that Vaccination of patients undergoing allo-HCT with ex vivo generated host DCs will enhance graft versus tumor responses and result in improved clinical outcomes.;We propose a proof-of-concept clinical trial in which we will inject host DCs in patients allo-HCT to examine whether infusion of host DCs either alone or in addition to donor lymphocyte infusion safe in patients that relapse after allo-HCT; and ii) to assess generation of immune responses against host antigens.