Expression of survival receptors in Hodgkin disease cell lines.

respond to antimicrobial therapy alone. In a case-control study of severely neutropenic SC transplant recipients with invasive infections who received granulocyte transfusions, we recently showed that G-CSF– mobilized granulocyte transfusions were not clearly associated with improved outcomes.9 In that study, patients were carefully matched according to infection type, underlying conditions, and transplantation status. Only a randomized controlled trial can definitively answer this question; planning for such a study is currently under way. We conclude that the effectiveness of therapeutic granulocyte transfusions requires further study. With regard to CMV matching, we believe that the data provided by Narvios et al are not sufficient to establish policy. Due to the significant risks associated with TT-CMV in some CMV-seronegative patient populations, it seems prudent to transfuse only CMV-seronegative granulocytes if possible. If CMV-seronegative granulocytes are not available, we suggest that high-risk recipients (ie, SC transplant recipients) be monitored for CMV by antigenemia or polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and treated preemptively if infection is documented.