title: Extracorporeal photochemotherapy for the treatment of graft-versus-host disease.
abstract: Photopheresis is an extracorporeal photochemotherapy (ECP) used for the treatment of oncological and autoimmune diseases. Lymphocytes are drawn from the patients by leukapheresis, treated with 8-methoxypsoralen (8-MOP) and ultraviolet light A (UVA) in an extracorporeal system; then, reinfused to the host. Because skin exposure to 8-MOP and UVA (PUVA) has been shown to improve cutaneous GVHD, we evaluated in a pilot study, if ECP might be beneficial for patients with GVHD unresponsive to conventional protocols. In this study, we enrolled 9 children or young adults, with acute (no = 1) or chronic extensive GVHD (no. = 8). A significant improvement was observed in three of the 5 patients with scleroderma-like lesions and in one patient with severe liver involvement. Karnofsky performance score improved from 30-50% to 90% in the 4 responders. The better control of GVHD in these patients allowed a reduction of the immunosuppressive therapy that was, finally, discontinued in two. No significant side effects were observed during ECP. Our results suggest that ECP is a nonaggressive treatment that may benefit patients with c-GVHD unresponsive to standard immunosuppressive therapies.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, University of Padua, Italy.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Rossetti
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Dall'Amico
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Crovetti
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Messina
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Montini
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Dini
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Locatelli
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Argiolu
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Miniero
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Zacchello
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006086:Graft vs Host Disease / Q000188:drug therapy*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011701:PUVA Therapy; D016896:Treatment Outcome