Bone marrow autograft in malignant hemopathies. The Team of the Sterile Unit

: Only in the last decade have autologous grafts begun to be studied extensively. Their most attractive feature is the avoidance of GVHD. However, GVHD has antitumoral effect on residual leukemic cells called "graft versus leukemia" effect and better understanding of this phenomenon explains the higher relapse rate after autologous bone marrow transplantation. New approaches such as cyclosporin--induced GVHD and IL-2 administration after autograft bring great expectations in this field. Colony stimulating factors and harvesting of peripheral stem cells help to reduce the duration of neutropenia. Finally, various techniques for marrow purging and hematopoietic cell isolation should make it possible to eliminate minimal residual disease. Recent results of autologous bone marrow transplantation in various malignancies are discussed.