Optimizing allogeneic grafts in hematopoietic stem cell transplantation

Abstract

Allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo‐HSCT) is widely used in the treatment of hematological diseases. It is well known that allogeneic grafts play a key role in predicting transplantation prognosis. Hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) are a functional part of grafts and are capable of reconstructing hematopoiesis and immunity, but purified HSCs have not been identified or isolated to date. In clinical practice, allogeneic grafts have been optimized to improve transplantation outcomes. The optimized grafts are considered to engraft successfully, reconstruct immunity rapidly, and exert a graft‐vs‐leukemia (GVL) effect without causing severe graft‐vs‐host disease (GvHD). In the last several decades, considerable efforts have been made in searching for optimized grafts based on different graft manipulation approaches and different graft sources. Currently, there is no uniform standard for optimized grafts in allogeneic transplantation. In the future, sorting out the cellular elements responsible for the effects of allo‐HSCT might be a research direction for further optimization of grafts. In this review, we propose the concept of optimized grafts and summarize the recent advances made in the process of optimizing grafts.