T‐cell depletion with Campath‐1H ‘in the bag’ for matched related allogeneic peripheral blood stem cell transplantation is associated with reduced graft‐versus‐host disease, rapid immune constitution and improved survival

We studied the outcome of 24 peripheral blood stem cell (PBSC) graft recipients, who were T‐cell depleted (TCD) with either 20 mg (n = 14) or 10 mg (n = 10) Campath‐1H in vitro, in comparison with a retrospective cohort of 23 unmanipulated (UM) PBSC recipients. While the neutrophil engraftment was similar, the platelet engraftment occurred earlier in the TCD group (d 11 vs 14). The incidence of acute and chronic graft‐versus‐host‐disease (GVHD) was 8·7% and 4·4% in the TCD group, respectively, compared with 47·7% and 56·3% in UM group (P