Abstract
Autologous hematopoietic cell transplantation (AHCT) is a new treatment option for patients with severe autoimmune diseases (AD), based on the use of intensive or myeloablative chemotherapy to eradicate the pathogenic autoreactive immune cells and to allow the installation of a new and tolerant immune system during immune reconstitution process. Immune reconstitution analysis after AHCT is required for patients clinical follow-up and to further identify biological and immunological markers of the clinical response to develop individualized AHCT protocols. These MATHEC-SFGM-TC good clinical practice guidelines were developed by a multidisciplinary group of experts including members of the french reference center for stem Cell Therapy in Auto-immune Diseases (MATHEC), hematologists from the French speaking Society of Bone Marrow Transplantation and Cellular Therapy (SFGM-TC) and experts in immune monitoring and biobanking. The objectives are to provide practical recommandations for immune monitoring and biobanking of samples in patients with AD undergoing AHCT, for routine care purposes and investigational studies.