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Transfusion-associated graft-versus-host disease (TA-GvHD) is an infrequent, but fatal, complication associated with transfusion of any cellular blood component. At present, gamma-irradiation of cellular blood components is the only acceptable method for preventing TA-GvHD. All blood components can be subjected to gamma-irradiation, which irreversibly inactivates leukocytes, especially T lymphocytes, while preserving the functional integrity of the pharmaceutically effective cellular blood components. Pathogen inactivation technologies have been developed to eliminate the minimal transfusion-associated risks caused by viral or bacterial contaminants. The INTERCEPT™ Blood System for platelets is based on the use of amotosalen HCl and UVA-irradiation. It sufficiently inhibits the replication of parasitic, bacterial, and viral genomes and inactivates T cell replication and cytokine generation on at least an equivalent level to gamma-irradiation. The INTERCEPT Blood System for platelets shows great robustness in inactivating viable T lymphocytes with more than a 5 log10 reduction in platelet concentrates, and it may have the potential to replace gamma-irradiation of platelet concentrates.

In the last few years, recommendations, guidelines, and laws have all served as important motivators, not just for improving the quality of medical products such as blood components but also for carefully and comprehensively guaranteeing the safety of blood donors. The German Guidelines for the Collection of Blood and Blood Components from 2000 [1] allow 26 thrombocytaphereses per year without the need for a threepart white blood cell (WBC) differentiation, whereas the apheresis frequency is limited to 24 procedures in the yet to be updated FDA guidelines from 1988 [2] which point out the magnitude of potential risks, especially lymphocyte depletion. Nowadays, this old-fashioned recommendation can only be understood by bearing in mind that the first generation of cell separators generated platelet concentrates with WBC contaminations in the order of 109 cells per concentrate [3]. Over the last three decades, the question of immune deficiency arising from frequent blood donations has been raised repeatedly. The paper of Carrero et al. [4] published in this issue also deals with the theme of analyzing the cellular immune status amongst thrombocytapheresis donors. These results and many other published contributions provide clear and definitive evidence that a slight loss of leukocytes, especially lymphocytes, does not impair the donor’s immune system in its