In vitro purging of bone marrow for autologous marrow transplantation in acute myelogenous leukemia using myeloid-specific monoclonal antibodies.

Autologous bone marrow transplantation (ABMT) for acute myelogenous leukemia has gained new popularity recently due to the availability of techniques to purge the autograft of residual leukemia cells. One of the methods of purging involves the use of monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) directed to antigens expressed on the surface of leukemia cells. Several mAbs lend themselves to this use because of their high degree of reactivity with leukemia cells and their lack of reactivity with normal pluripotent hematopoietic progenitor cells. Candidate mAbs include those directed to the CD14, CD15, and CD33 molecules. This review focuses on the pre-clinical data concerning the use of mAbs to these antigens and on the results of on-going clinical trials of ABMT using mAb-mediated purging.