Stem cell transplantation with reduced-intensity conditioning regimens: a review of ten years experience with new transplant concepts and new therapeutic agents

The realization in the 1990s that allogeneic stem cell transplants ( SCT) have a potentially curative graft-versus-leukemia ( GVL) effect in addition to the antileukemic action of myeloablative conditioning regimens was a major stimulus for the development of reduced-intensity conditioning ( RIC) regimens, aimed primarily at securing engraftment to provide the GVL effect, while minimizing regimen-related toxicity. It is now over 10 years since RIC regimens were heralded as a new direction in the field of SCT. Over the last decade much has been learned about the ways in which the conditioning regimen can be tailored to provide adequate immunosuppression, and modulated to deliver a chosen degree of antimalignant treatment. The huge literature of clinical data with RIC transplantation now permits us to more clearly define the success and limitations of the approach. This review examines the origins of RIC SCT, explores the degree to which the initial expectations and purpose of the approach have been realized, and outlines some ways forward for the field.