Purpose of review: This review presents the role of donor lymphocyte infusion, natural killer cells, and dendritic cells in cellular immunotherapy after allogeneic stem cell transplantation.
Recent findings: It becomes increasingly possible to infuse more specialized subsets of lymphocyte cells after transplantation. The infusion of natural killer cells, especially in non human leukocyte antigen-identical transplantation, may become an important tool in enhancing the graft-versus-tumor effect. Vaccination of patients after stem cell transplantation with autologous-derived dendritic cells merits further investigation.
Summary: Stem cell transplantation has evolved to a specialized form of immunotherapy.