Prior treatment with alpha-interferon does not adversely affect the outcome of allogeneic BMT in chronic phase chronic myeloid leukemia.
OBJECTIVE
Controlled clinical trials have shown that Interferon-alpha (IFN-alpha) is able to control myeloid proliferation and to suppress the Ph+ clonal hemopoiesis in early chronic phase chronic myeloid leukemia (CML): a growing number of patients are treated with this agent from diagnosis. However, if a CML patient has an HLA-identical sibling, bone marrow transplant (BMT) represents the best choice of treatment. Since IFN-alpha is known to modify the immunologic response and to increase marrow fibrosis, information is needed on the outcome of patients transplanted after IFN-alpha treatment.


METHODS
We analyzed retrospectively 32 Ph+ CML patients submitted to BMT in the last 6 years in Institute "Serágnoli". All the patients were in 1st chronic phase, their median age was 37 years, the donors were HLA-identical (27/32) or 1 Ag-mismatched (5/32) siblings. Big BuCy was the conditioning regimen employed for all and GVHD prophylaxis was based on CsA in 4 patients and Csa+MTX in 28 patients; all patients received homogeneous pre and post-transplant supportive care, antimicrobial and antiviral prophylaxis. These patients were divided into 2 groups according to the treatment before BMT: 16 received IFN from diagnosis to BMT (mean dose 6.9 MU/daily) for at least 6 mos (mean 23 mos, range 8-75) and 16 received chemotherapy alone (hydroxyurea [HU]).


RESULTS
Hematological recovery was comparable in the two groups: time to 0.5 x 10(9)/L PMN was 20.5 days (range 11-32) in the IFN group and 20 days (range 10-32) in the HU group; time to 50 x 10(9)/L platelets was 28 days (range 20-117) in the IFN group and 27 days (range 20-112) in the HU group. The incidence of acute GVHD was not different in the two groups for any grade of the disease; in patients who survived more than 100 days, chronic GVHD occurred in the two groups with the same frequency. Seven patients died of transplant related mortality (TRM), 4 in the IFN group and 3 in the HU group. Hematological relapse was observed in only one case in the HU group; no cytogenetic relapse occurred. Disease free survivals at 7 years are 61% and 72%, respectively; the difference is not significant.


CONCLUSIONS
Notwithstanding the low number of patients included in this study, the data reported here confirm that prior treatment with alpha-IFN does not adversely affect transplant outcome.
Zuffa
E
E
Hematology Unit, S. Maria delle Croci Hospital, Ravenna, Italy.
Bandini
G
G
Bonini
A
A
Santucci
M A
MA
Martinelli
G
G
Rosti
G
G
Testoni
N
N
Zaccaria
A
A
Tura
S
S
D000328:Adult; D016026:Bone Marrow Transplantation / Q000276:immunology / Q000401:mortality; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D005260:Female; D006085:Graft Survival; D006086:Graft vs Host Disease / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D016898:Interferon-alpha / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D015464:Leukemia, Myelogenous, Chronic, BCR-ABL Positive / Q000628:therapy*; D015466:Leukemia, Myeloid, Chronic-Phase / Q000628:therapy*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012008:Recurrence; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D019172:Transplantation Conditioning; D014184:Transplantation, Homologous / Q000401:mortality; D016896:Treatment Outcome
D016898:Interferon-alpha