Measuring the levels of a specific kind of immune system cell helps predict whether people with leukemia and related cancers who have received a blood stem cell transplant will suffer a relapse and die or go into remission, says a University of Florida study.These immune system cells, called dendritic cells, initiate the body’s immune response to disease or infection. When produced in large enough numbers after a person has a stem cell transplant, these dendritic cells seem to launch the body’s efforts to combat the return of blood-borne cancers, the study found.
