This study reports the first use of reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction as a prognostic tool to detect occult bone marrow met-astases in patients with breast cancer undergoing high-dose chemotherapy with stem cell rescue. In patients with breast cancer, the presence of cytokeratin 19 in marrow is associated with a poor prognosis.

    Kurtzberg J, Laughlin M, Graham ML, et al. Placental blood as a source of hematopoietic stem cells for transplantation into unrelated recipients. N Engl J Med. 1996;335:157-166.

    The investigators demonstrate that partially mismatched placental blood from unrelated donors can provide an alternative source of stem cells for hematopoietic reconstitution.

    Gianni AM, Bregni M, Siena S, et al. High-dose chemotherapy and autologous bone marrow transplantation compared with MACOP-B in aggressive B-cell lymphoma. N Engl J Med. 1997;336:1290-1297.

    After a median follow-up of 55 months, patients with diffuse large-cell lymphoma of the B-cell type who received high-dose sequential therapy had significantly higher rates of complete response, progression-free survival, and event-free survival than those treated with MACOP-B.

    Philip T, Guglielmi C, Hagenbeek A, et al. Autologous bone marrow transplantation as compared with salvage chemotherapy in relapses of chemotherapy-sensitive non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. N Engl J Med. 1995;333:1540-1545.

    Radiotherapy of the involved fields and high-dose chemotherapy consisting of carmustine, etoposide, cytarabine, and cyclophosphamide (BEAC) followed by autologous bone marrow transplantation significantly increases event-free and overall survival in patients with chemotherapy-sensitive non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in relapse compared with those receiving conventional chemo-therapy.

    Gale RP, Hehlmann R, Zhang M, et al. Survival with bone marrow transplantation versus hydroxyurea or interferon for chronic myelogenous leukemia. Blood. 1998;91: 1810-1819.

    This study confirms the long-term survival advantage for patients with CML in chronic phase who receive an HLA-identical sibling transplant compared with those who receive standard therapy.

    Zittoun RA, Mandelli F, Willemze R, et al. Autologous or allogeneic bone marrow transplantation compared with intensive chemotherapy in acute myelogenous leukemia. N Engl J Med. 1995;332:217-223.

    Patients with acute myelogenous leukemia in first complete remission who underwent autologous or allogeneic bone marrow transplantation had better disease-free survival compared with those treated with intensive consolidation chemotherapy with high-dose cytarabine and daunorubicin.

    Bonini C, Ferrari G, Verzeletti S, et al. HSV-TK gene transfer into donor lymphocytes for control of allogeneic graft-vs-leukemia. Science. 1997;276:1719-1724.

    Transducing donor lymphocytes with the herpes simplex virus thymidine kinase suicide gene may increase the efficacy and safety of allogeneic bone marrow transplantation by modulating graft-vs-host disease with ganciclovir.

    Demirer T, Buckner CD, Storer B, et al. Effect of different chemotherapy regimens on peripheral-blood stem-cell collections in patients with breast cancer receiving granulocyte colony-stimulating factor. J Clin Oncol. 1997;15:684-690.

    Combination chemotherapy regimens were superior to single-agent cyclophosphamide for the mobilization of CD34+ cells.

    Henslee-Downey PJ, Abhyankar SH, Parrish RS, et al. Use of partially mismatched related donors extends access to allogeneic marrow transplant. Blood. 1997;89: 3864-3872.

    The investigators report on their experience with 72 patients who received a partially mismatched related donor (PMRD) transplantation. By using aggressive immunomodulation, a PMRD transplant can be performed with acceptable rates of graft failure and graft-vs-host disease.

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