'nother update

[slipslidingaway]

4. Hi Tab ...

very sorry to hear of the BMB results, do they think the MDS is a result of prior chemo treatments? I've read about secondary MDS after treatments for other types of cancer so just wondering if they mentioned the possibility. My husband was diagnosed with MDS RAEB 2 which did not respond to one of the initial treatments (Dacogen) and progressed to acute myeloid leukemia.
It is all a balancing act after transplant, some say that a small amount of GVHD helps promote a graft vs leukemia effect to keep things in check, sounds similar to the immune surveillance system you mentioned. Three months after my husband's transplant he developed EBV lymphoma and had 5 treatments of Rituximab to hopefully wipe out the lymphoma. We were discussing him entering the trial they had at Sloan with Interlukin 7 when he developed the EBV lymphoma. They hope this will be a bridge in raising the patient's immunity enough to get them through a rough period where they are at risk of developing other problems, similar to what they do now as standard treatment in raising the the ANC by giving Neupogen and moving them past that critical period, but we never made it that far before the lymphoma.
He is now two and a half years post transplant and his blood counts looks good, but we're always looking over our shoulders. They are making decent strides, but still much has to be done to combat this disease.