Impact of CMV Reactivation on Relapse in Patients with Acute Leukemia Who Received Allogeneic Stem Cell Transplantation in First Remission: Possible GVL Effect in CMV Seropositive Population

In western countries, several studies have reported that CMV seronegative acute leukemia (AL) patients might have a beneficial effect from CMV seropositive donor for reduction of relapse. These observations resulted from subclinical CMV viremia with delayed initiation of antiviral therapy which showed a stimulatory effect on natural-killer cells and cytotoxic T-cells that may enhance graft-versus-leukemia (GVL) effect. We tried to evaluate the relationship between CMV reactivation and relapse of AL in Korean population, in which CMV serostatus is mostly positive for both donors and recipients.