Antibody-mediated Dendritic Cell Depletion to Attenuate GVHD

Funded Activity Summary

Not all patients with leukemia will be cured by chemotherapy. Stem cell transplantation improves their chances of survival. Stem cell transplantation requires intensive chemotherapy and radiotherapy to eradicate the underlying disease and infusion of healthy stem cells to provide an anti-leukemic effect and normal blood cells. Recovery from transplantation is not straightforward. Recovery can be hampered by the immunological reaction of the donor cells against the patient (Graft versus Host Disease [GVHD]), despite immunosuppression. GVHD produces serious damage to the internal organs and lining of the mouth and gut. Recovery can also be circumvented by leukemic relapse. GVHD is associated with an increased risk of death and dying after transplantation. To date therapy for GVHD has relied on eliminating the T cells that cause the disease. However for T cells to cause damage they must first be primed with antigen presented on activated dendritic cells. The intensive conditioning therapy required to eradicate the underlying disease before transplantation also activates dendritic cells. Our project seeks to investigate the effects of lethal and non-lethal conditioning on dendritic cells with the aim of validating the use of antibodies designed to deplete activated dendritic cells as therapy for graft versus host disease.

Funded Activity Details

Start Date: 01-01-2007

End Date: 01-01-2009

Funding Scheme: NHMRC Project Grants

Funding Amount: $434,510.00

Funder: National Health and Medical Research Council

Research Topics

ANZSRC Field of Research (FoR)

Haematology

ANZSRC Socio-Economic Objective (SEO)

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Other Keywords

Graft versus Leukaemia; | Graft vesus Host Disease | Graft vesus Host Disease; | Haematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation | Leukaemia; | dendritic cells; | monoclonal antibodies

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