ABSTRACT
However, allogeneic transplantation in myeloma results in molecular remission of the disease as well as long-term survival in a minority of patients. This points to the existence of immunologic graft-versus-tumor effects (‘graftversus-myeloma’, GVM), which can eradicate residual disease and potentially result in a cure.7,8
Allogeneic transplantation has been used in myeloma for over 15 years now.9-13 However, despite its curative potential, allogeneic transplantation has been utilized sparingly in myeloma until recently because of very poor
While it has been argued that myeloma patients are unusually susceptible to toxicity of an allograft, it is far likelier that poor patient selection has been responsible for unacceptable results. Allogeneic transplantation has been reserved for patients with terminal disease, who typically have organ dysfunction and a poor performance status – factors that increase treatment-related mortality dramatically.
