A New Bone Marrow Transplantation Method for the Prevention of Graft- Versus-Host Disease

A new bone marrow transplantation (BMT) method, "intra-bone marrow (IBM)-BMT" has recently been developed. This method was found to prevent not only graft-versus-host (GvH) reaction but also host-versus-graft (HvG) reaction, since IBM-BMT can efficiently recruit donor-derived stromal cells (including mesenchymal stem cells: MSCs), which produce immunosuppressive cytokines. This paper shows that IBM-BMT prevents GvHD even when donor lymphocyte infusion (DLI) is carried out, and that the combination of IBM-BMT + DLI not only prevents GvHD but also inhibits the growth of solid tumors in mice. In addition, it has been shown that IBM-BMT will be applicable to the treatment of various intractable diseases.