CD4+ donor lymphocytes

CD4+ donor lymphocytes are a form of adoptive cell therapy in which T lymphocytes expressing the CD4 surface marker—known as helper T cells—are collected from a hematopoietic stem cell donor and infused into the transplant recipient, typically after allogeneic bone marrow or stem cell transplantation. The primary mechanism is to induce graft-versus-leukemia (GVL) and graft-versus-tumor (GVT) responses by activating immune recognition of minor histocompatibility antigens on recipient hematopoietic and malignant cells, often without inducing graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) when CD8 cells are depleted[3][4][6][8]. CD4+ donor lymphocyte infusions are considered immunotherapy and cell therapy modalities, primarily in the relapse setting for hematologic malignancies such as chronic myeloid leukemia and multiple myeloma after allogeneic transplantation[3][4][8]. This approach harnesses HLA class II-restricted recognition, with CD4+ T cells orchestrating immune responses through cytokine release and cell-mediated cytotoxicity against cancer cells or residual host hematopoiesis[4]. Key advantages include reduced risk of GVHD relative to unseparated DLI, and efficacy in converting mixed chimerism to full donor chimerism. The procedure is usually conducted at specialized academic medical centers with a cell-processing laboratory and access to the original stem cell donor.

Other names

CD4+ T cellsCD4-positive donor lymphocytesCD-4-positive donor lymphocytesCD 4-positive donor lymphocytesCD4 donor lymphocytesCD-4 donor lymphocytesCD 4 donor lymphocytesdonor CD4 T lymphocytes