title: Melphalan alone prior to allogeneic bone marrow transplantation from HLA-identical sibling donors for hematologic malignancies: alloengraftment with potential preservation of fertility in women.
abstract: Melphalan has rarely been used as a single agent for conditioning prior to allogeneic marrow transplantation. Twenty-eight patients (median age 19.5 years) undergoing allogeneic BMT for acute leukemia (n = 26) or lymphoblastic lymphoma (n = 2) in first remission (n = 10) or beyond (n = 18) from HLA-identical siblings received 240 mg/m2 melphalan. Death due to primary graft failure was seen in two patients. Sustained hematopoietic recovery was seen in all the others (n = 22) not dying early due to toxicity (n = 2) or persistent active disease (n = 2). The 3-year probabilities of transplant-related mortality and relapse were 35% and 62%, respectively. Seven patients are alive and well at 103-163 months (median 136) with Karnofsky scores of 100% (10-year disease-free survival, 25%). Of the 16 patients with donors of the opposite sex, seven underwent cytogenetic studies after BMT and showed complete chimerism with donor cells. Amongst the four women who were 15-30 years at the time of the transplant, there were seven pregnancies over 297 months of follow-up beyond 2 years from transplant. In contrast, no pregnancies were seen in 53 women with hematologic malignancies who were conditioned with other regimens over 3524 months of follow-up beyond 2 years from transplant. The pregnancy rate was significantly higher (P < 0.001) for women conditioned with melphalan alone (three of four) than for those conditioned with other regimens (0 of 53). We conclude that pre-transplant conditioning with melphalan alone permits alloengraftment of marrow from HLA-identical siblings, and may preserve fertility better than other regimens in some women.
authors.affiliation: Leukaemia Unit, Royal Marsden Hospital, Surrey, UK.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Singhal
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Powles
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Treleaven
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Horton
authors.forename: G J
authors.initials: GJ
authors.lastname: Swansbury
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Mehta
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D016026:Bone Marrow Transplantation / Q000401:mortality; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003520:Cyclophosphamide / Q000008:administration & dosage; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D005260:Female; D006086:Graft vs Host Disease / Q000517:prevention & control; D019337:Hematologic Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality / Q000628:therapy*; D006648:Histocompatibility; D006801:Humans; D007247:Infertility, Female / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000517:prevention & control*; D008297:Male; D008558:Melphalan / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D009679:Nuclear Family; D011247:Pregnancy; D018873:Pregnancy Rate; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D016879:Salvage Therapy; D014019:Tissue Donors; D019172:Transplantation Conditioning / Q000009:adverse effects; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014916:Whole-Body Irradiation / Q000009:adverse effects
chemical_list: D003520:Cyclophosphamide; D008558:Melphalan