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Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), cytomegalovirus (CMV), and adenovirus (ADV) infections are often life threatening in immunocompromised patients who undergo hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. When these infections in such patients become refractory to commonly used antiviral drugs, infusion of virus-specific T-cells might be beneficial.
To explore this approach, investigators prepared 32 virus-specific cell lines from donors who were immune to EBV, CMV, or ADV. Selected cells were infused in 50 recipients with infections that had persisted for ≥7 days despite standard therapy. Human leukocyte antigen matching was performed to confirm that the cells chosen for infusion had antiviral activity against the specific infecting virus.
At 6 weeks, the…