Revised: March 21, 2013
Accepted: April 10, 2013
Published online: May 6, 2013
Processing time: 131 Days and 19.3 Hours
The graft vs tumor effect produced by the infusion of allo-reactive lymphocytes is considered to be the main mechanism of action in the eradication of tumor cells only reported in allogeneic stem cell transplantation. We present a case of a lymphoma patient infused with his collected bystander lymphocytes from is stem cell autograft after failing to collect enough stem cells to proceed with autologous stem cells transplantation, resulting in tumor response with no treatment related toxicity. This case illustrates the concept of autologous lymphocyte infusion, suggesting the possibility of an autograft vs tumor effect, as an effort to parallel donor lymphocyte infusion in allogeneic stem cell transplantation to create a graft vs tumor effect by increasing donor lymphocytes in the patient.
Core tip: This case report illustrated the possibility of an autograft vs tumor effect by infusion autologous lymphocytes collected during stem cell collection without the side effect graft vs host disease. The infusion of autologous lymphocytes produced tumor regression in our case, suggesting that this treatment modality might benefit lymphoma patients.