title: Umbilical cord blood transplant from unrelated HLA-mismatched donors in children with high risk leukemia.
abstract: In the last 3 years, 14 children with high-risk leukemia (11 ALL, 2 AML and 1 CML) underwent cord blood transplantation from unrelated HLA-mismatched donors at a median of 99 days from the start of search. Eight patients were transplanted in second CR, one in accelerated phase, three at relapse and two patients in first CR. Conditioning regimen (fractionated TBI, etoposide, CY and anti-lymphocyte serum) and prophylaxis of GVHD (CsA and 6-methylprednisolone) were identical for all patients. Neutrophils >0.5x10(9)/l were reached at a median of 33 days from transplant, but in four cases we observed an autologous hematopoietic reconstitution (three spontaneous, one after autologous BM rescue). Acute and chronic GVHD were observed in 10/14 and 3/8 evaluable cases, respectively. Three patients died of transplant-related toxicity and three patients relapsed. The probabilities of event-free, disease-free and overall survival were 50, 53 and 64%, respectively. Cord blood transplant from HLA-mismatched unrelated donor is a valid option for the treatment of children with high-risk leukemia. With our eligibility criteria, conditioning regimen and prophylaxis of graft-versus-host disease, the main obstacles to successful transplant were represented by graft failure and fatal acute GVHD.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Biotecnologie Cellulari ed Ematologia, University La Sapienza Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Arcese
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Guglielmi
authors.forename: A P
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: Iori
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Screnci
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Carmini
authors.forename: A M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Testi
authors.forename: M L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Moleti
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mengarelli
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Del Giudice
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Cimino
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Elia
authors.forename: M C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Rapanotti
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Perrone
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Laurenti
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Gentile
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Boecklin
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Romano
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: De Felice
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Mandelli
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D005312:Fetal Blood; D016332:Fetal Tissue Transplantation / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000276:immunology; D006086:Graft vs Host Disease / Q000209:etiology; D006680:HLA Antigens / Q000097:blood*; D006650:Histocompatibility Testing; D006801:Humans; D007938:Leukemia / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000628:therapy*; D008297:Male; D012307:Risk Factors; D014015:Tissue Banks; D014019:Tissue Donors; D018183:Transplantation Chimera; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D006680:HLA Antigens