Impact of specific immunotherapy in acute myelocytic leukemia.

Our studies clearly show that significantly longer remission duration was attained in groups of AML patients immunized with neuraminidase treated allogeneic myeloblasts as compared to patients who received chemotherapy alone or neuraminidase treated myeloblasts plus MER. IT is clear that MER, albeit apparently active alone in certain other clinical studies impairs the immunotherapeutic value of neuraminidase treated allogeneic myeloblasts in AML patients. The in vivo and in vitro immunological tests results reflect the host's immunological status in each arm of the protocol and correlate well with the duration of remission achieved with specific vs. combination of specific plus adjuvant immunotherapy.