T-cell therapy in the treatment of post-transplant lymphoproliferative disease

Post-transplant lymphoproliferative diseases (PTLD) associated with Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection often develop after organ and haematopoietic stem-cell transplantation. These lymphoproliferative diseases are tumours that usually express all latent EBV viral proteins, and are therefore amenable to T-cell-based immune therapies, such as donor lymphocyte infusions and the adoptive transfer of EBV-specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes. In this Review, we describe current approaches of T-cell-based therapies to treat PTLD, and describe strategies that improve the feasibility of such treatment.