Current concepts and challenges in the prevention and treatment of viral infections in immunocompromised cancer patients.

Patients with acute leukemia treated with intensive chemotherapy and recipients of bone marrow or peripheral blood stem cell transplants are at high risk of serious viral disease. Recent progress in diagnostic methods and in antiviral drug treatment has permitted the development of efficient management strategies particularly for infections due to herpes simplex virus, varicella-zoster virus, and cytomegalovirus in these patients. By contrast, specific treatment of other virus infections in immunocompromised cancer patients remains an unresolved issue. The emergence of herpesvirus resistance to antiviral drugs is a matter of concern, and its clinical importance among patients with malignancy needs to be elucidated. Future investigations may furthermore help to clarify the role of novel antiviral agents, such as cidofovir, lobucavir, and compound 1263W94, and of the adoptive immunotherapy with virus-specific CTL clones in severely immunodeficient cancer patients.