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Blood, 1 November 2006, Vol. 108, No. 9, pp. 2942-2949. Prepublished online as a Blood First Edition Paper on July 11, 2006; DOI 10.1182/blood-2006-05-021782. This Article Full Text (PDF) All Versions of this Article: blood-2006-05-021782v1 108/9/2942    most recent Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Rights and Permissions Citing Articles Citing Articles via CrossRef Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Savoldo, B. Articles by Heslop, H. E Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Savoldo, B. Articles by Heslop, H. E Related Collections Related Article in Blood Online Social Bookmarking                   What's this?  Previous Article  |  Next Article  Submitted May 9, 2006 Accepted June 19, 2006 Treatment of solid organ transplant recipients with autologous Epstein Barr virus-specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) Barbara Savoldo*, John A Goss, Markus M Hammer, Lan Zhang, Teresita Lopez, Adrian P Gee, Yu-Feng Lin, Ruben E Quiros-Tejeira, Petra Reinke, Stephan Schubert, Stephen Gottschalk, Milton J Finegold, Malcolm K Brenner, Cliona M Rooney, and Helen E Heslop Center for Cell & Gene Therapy, Dept. of Pediatrics, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA Dept. of Surgery, Baylor College of Medicine, The Methodist Hospital & Texas Children's Hospital, TX Dept. of Nephrology & Intensive Care, Charite - Universitatsmedizin Berlin, Germany Center for Cell and Gene Therapy, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA German Heart Center Berlin, Germany Dept. Pediatrics & Pathology, Baylor College of Medicine, Texas Childrens Hospital, Houston,TX, USA * Corresponding author; email: bsavoldo{at}bcm.tmc.edu. We have investigated the in-vivo safety, efficacy and persistence of autologous Epstein Barr Virus (EBV)-specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) for the treatment solid organ transplant (SOT) recipients at high-risk for EBV-associated post-transplant lymphoproliferative disease (PTLD). EBV-CTL generated from 35 patients expanded with normal kinetics, contained both CD8 and CD4 lymphocytes and produced significant specific killing of autologous EBV-transformed B lymphoblastoid cell lines (LCL). Twelve SOT recipients at high risk for PTLD, or with active disease, received autologous CTL infusions without toxicity. Real-time PCR monitoring of EBV-DNA showed a transient increase in plasma EBV-DNA suggestive of lysis of EBV-infected cells, although there was no consistent decrease in virus load in peripheral blood mononuclear cells. Interferon-g Elispot assay and tetramer analysis showed an increase in the frequency of EBV-responsive T cells, which returned to pre-infusion levels after 2-6 months. None of the treated patients developed PTLD. One patient with liver PTLD showed a complete response, and one with ocular disease has had a partial response stable for over one year. These data are consistent with an expansion and persistence of adoptively transferred EBV-CTL, that is limited in the presence of continued immunosuppression, but that nonetheless produces clinically useful anti-viral activity. CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    What's this? Related Article in Blood Online: Hiding in plain sight Richard F. Ambinder Blood 2006 108: 2891. [Full Text] [PDF]

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