REVIEW ARTICLES   

Panminerva Medica 2002 September;44(3):197-204

Copyright © 2009 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

lingua: Inglese

The role of hematopoietic stem cells in the treatment of ovarian cancer

Perillo A., Pierelli L., Scambia G., Leone G., Mancuso S.

Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics *Hematology and Hemotransfusion Service Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, Rome, Italy

In ­recent ­years hemat­o­poietic ­stem ­cells (HSC) ­have ­been the ­object of new ­research ­efforts and sci­en­tific ­advances. Therapeutic strat­e­gies ­have ­been set up ­using HSC for the treat­ment of ­solid ­tumors ­such as ­ovarian ­cancer. In ­this con­text dif­ferent ­approaches ­have ­been pro­posed and clin­i­cally inves­ti­gated. The “autol­o­gous” ­approach ­refers to the use of HSC as hemat­o­logic sup­port to ­high-­dose chem­o­therapy reg­i­mens, and to the use of HSC as an abun­dant ­source of den­dritic ­cells for ­cancer vac­ci­na­tion pro­to­cols. Our insti­tu­tion has devel­oped a ­long-­term expe­ri­ence in ­high-­dose chem­o­therapy ­with autol­o­gous HSC trans­plan­ta­tion as ­first-­line treat­ment of ­advanced ­ovarian ­cancer, and in the use of cyto­kines ­both for the HSC col­lec­tion and for the ­post-trans­plan­ta­tion hemat­o­poietic ­recovery. Moreover, the “allog­e­neic” ­approach ­with HSC con­sists of the allog­e­neic trans­plan­ta­tion ­with ­both myel­oa­bla­tive/stan­dard or non­myel­oa­bla­tive/­reduced con­di­tioning reg­i­mens, ­which has ­been pro­posed as a new adop­tive immu­no­ther­a­peutic treat­ment for dif­ferent non­he­mat­o­logic malig­nan­cies. Perspectives in the use of HSC in ­oncology com­prise the pos­sibility of an HSC ex ­vivo expan­sion, the use of umbil­ical ­cord ­blood HSC, and the devel­op­ment of ­future HSC-­based ­gene-­therapy pro­grams.