Donor lymphocyte infusion

A donor lymphocyte infusion (DLI) involves transfusing T-cells from a healthy stem cell donor into a patient who has received a transplant from that same donor. It may be given to patients who relapse after an allogeneic transplant or have residual disease three to six months after allogeneic transplant.

Residual disease might be detected by immunofixation, serum free light chain analysis, PCR (polymerase chain reaction), flow cytometry or by the presence of mixed chimaerism (cells from both donor and recipient present). DLI is an area of ongoing current research in myeloma.