CMV: a warrior against leukemia?

In thw latest issue of Blood, Green et al provide additional information supporting that cytomegalovirus (CMV) reduces leukemia relapse after allogeneic stem cell transplantation^.

CMV has been called the troll of transplantation mainly due to the high mortality in CMV pneumonia early in the development of bone marrow transplantation. Since then, very substantial improvements in CMV management have been achieved primarily by the development of rapid and sensitive diagnostic techniques allowing for the use of preemptive antiviral therapy resulting in lower rates of CMV disease. CMV has also been associated with indirect effects, including being immunosuppressive and thereby increasing the risk for bacterial and fungal infections.

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CMV: a warrior against leukemia?

Source: Blood
Image credits: Ulrich Welte

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