Cytokine-treated Veto Cells

Cytokine-treated veto cells are an investigational cell therapy developed by M.D. Anderson Cancer Center for use in haploidentical hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). These cells are anti-viral central memory CD8+ T cells (CD45RO+CD3+CD8+CD62L+) generated ex vivo from donor memory CD8+ T cells. They are stimulated against viral antigens (EBV, CMV, BKV, and Adenovirus) and cultured under specific cytokine conditions, including a period of cytokine deprivation to eliminate anti-host alloreactive clones, followed by expansion with IL-15, IL-21, and IL-7. The therapy functions via veto activity, where the donor T cells selectively eliminate host T cells that would otherwise reject the donor graft, thereby facilitating engraftment and preventing graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) without the need for intensive myeloablative conditioning.

Other names

Anti-Viral Central Memory CD8 Veto CellsAnti-Viral Veto Cells