title: Autologous bone marrow transplantation for high risk acute lymphoblastic leukemia: clinical relevance of ex vivo bone marrow purging with monoclonal antibodies and complement.
abstract: Herein we describe our experience with 75 consecutive autologous BM transplants for patients with high-risk ALL, with special attention to the clinical impact of BM purging. Fifty-two patients received purged BM using monoclonal antibody (MoAb) cocktails and complement, and 23 patients received untreated BM. The distribution of prognostic factors was similar in both groups. Hemopoietic reconstitution was adequate and did not differ in the two groups. Transplant-related mortality was 9.6% and 13% in 'purged' and 'unpurged' groups. Median follow up was 11 months (2-71) and overall actuarial probability of disease-free survival (DFS) at 5 years was 40% (53% relapse probability). We found a beneficial effect of purging in patients over 15 years of age and in patients needing more than 1 month to reach CR1. Patients in CR1 receiving purged marrow had a longer DFS and a lower relapse probability (52% vs 12%, P = 0.02 and 35% vs 86%, P = 0.005, respectively) which were related to the efficacy of the purging procedure (more or less than one log of depletion). In further CR, no advantage of purging has been found. Our data strongly suggest the clinical relevance of BM purging in autologous BMT in high-risk ALL patients and support the need for prospective randomized studies.
authors.affiliation: Hematology Department, 'Institut Català d'Oncologia', Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Grañena
authors.forename: X
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Castellsagué
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Badell
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ferra
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ortega
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Brunet
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Puntí
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sureda
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Picón
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Valls
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rutllant
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: García
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D016465:Bone Marrow Purging; D016026:Bone Marrow Transplantation; D003165:Complement System Proteins / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D005260:Female; D006410:Hematopoiesis; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D054198:Precursor Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma / Q000401:mortality / Q000628:therapy*; D014182:Transplantation, Autologous
chemical_list: D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D003165:Complement System Proteins