[Successful treatment with donor leukocyte transfusion followed by interferon-alpha in a patient with relapsed chronic myelogenous leukemia after allogeneic bone marrow transplantation].
A 44-year-old man with CML in chronic phase was admitted for BMT from an HLA-identical sibling. Ph positive cells were undetectable at 3 and 7 months after BMT but became detectable by cytogenetic analysis of bone marrow aspirates at 12 months after BMT. He was treated with IFN-alpha (6 million units/day, 3 times a week) without apparent effect. Donor leukocyte transfusion (DLT) was performed four times between 20 months and 23 months after BMT, transfusing 3.4 x 10(8) mononuclear cells/kg. However, leukocytosis appeared and the NAP score declined at 25 months after BMT. FISH analysis revealed an increase in bcr-abl positive cells. IFN-alpha was restarted using the same schedule at 26 months after BMT. Three months after restarting IFN-alpha, the leukocyte count fell to the normal range, NAP score increased to a normal level, and bcr-abl positive cells decreased markedly. He has remained in hematological and cytogenetic remission for 20 months, and bcr-abl chimeric mRNA remained undetectable by PCR. These results suggest that CML which does not respond to DLT may be cured by subsequent IFN-alpha therapy, possibly by inducing anti-leukemia immune responses.
First Division of Internal Medicine, Kyoto University.
A
A
Maeda
K
K
Yamamoto
Y
Y
Kotone
K
K
Yamashita
N
N
Yoshinaga
H
H
Hirata
K
K
Asagoe
M
M
Nohgawa
A
A
Takahashi
H
H
Ohno
M
M
Tashima
M
M
Sasada
D000328:Adult; D016026:Bone Marrow Transplantation; D006801:Humans; D016898:Interferon-alpha / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D015464:Leukemia, Myelogenous, Chronic, BCR-ABL Positive / Q000628:therapy*; D017708:Leukocyte Transfusion; D008297:Male; D012008:Recurrence; D012074:Remission Induction; D014184:Transplantation, Homologous; D014185:Transplantation, Isogeneic; D016896:Treatment Outcome
D016898:Interferon-alpha