Proceedings from the National Cancer Institute's Second International Workshop on the Biology, Prevention, and Treatment of Relapse after Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation: introduction.

Despite advances in hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) for the treatment of hematologic malignancies, relapse remains the leading cause of death after transplant. Biologic and clinical investigations are needed to combat this primary cause of death after transplantation. The National Cancer Institute held international workshops in 2009 and 2012 to help address this problem. Three major initiatives for coordinated research were proposed: 1) To establish multicenter networks for basic, translational, epidemiologic and clinical research; 2) To establish a network of biorepositories for the collection of samples before and after HSCT to aid in laboratory and clinical studies; and 3) To refine, implement and study proposed definitions for disease-specific response and relapse and for monitoring of minimal residual disease. The workshop in 2012 also featured nine presentations, summaries of which follow in three manuscripts.