title: Allogeneic bone marrow transplantation from unrelated donors using in vivo anti-T-cell globulin.
abstract: Despite improvements in HLA typing, graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) continues to impair the results after volunteer unrelated donor bone marrow transplantation (VUD-BMT) in adult patients compared with matched sibling BMT. Here, the outcome after VUD-BMT using a specific regimen with high-dose anti-T-lymphocyte globulin (ATG) was analysed. Fifty-five adult patients, median age 34 years (range 17-55 years), with acute or chronic leukaemia or myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) were transplanted in first complete remission (CR1)/first chronic phase (CP1) (early disease) (n = 21) or in advanced (CR2/CP2, no remission) disease (n = 34) from an unrelated marrow donor. GVHD prophylaxis consisted of ATG-S (Fresenius) 60-90 mg/kg b.w. prior to transplantation, in addition to cyclosporin A and short-course methotrexate. Graft failure did not occur and white blood cell count (WBC) > 1.0 x 10(9)/l was reached at median day +16. The cumulative incidence of acute (a)GVHD grade II-IV was 15% [95% CI (8%, 28%)] and of chronic GVHD was 51% [95% CI (38%, 68%)]. The cumulative incidence of relapse within 1 year was 0% [95% CI (0%, 19%)] and 21% [95% CI (11%, 40%)] for patients with early and advanced disease respectively. With a median follow-up of 28 months (range 16-45 months), 2-year disease-free and overall survival for patients transplanted in CR1/CP1 was 81% and 81% [95% CI (64%, 98%)], respectively, and for patients with advanced disease was 33% [95% CI (17%, 50%)] and 40% [95% CI (23%, 57%)] respectively. Complete and persistent donor chimaerism was seen in 77.5% of 40 patients evaluated. All 14 chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML)-CP1 patients became bcr-abl negative within 250 d. High-dose ATG pretransplant results in a low incidence of severe aGVHD without compromising donor chimaerism or elimination of minimal residual disease. Our results are similar to data obtained after matched sibling donor transplantation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Haematology and Oncology, Albert-Ludwigs University Hospital, Freiburg, Germany. finke@mm11.ukl.uni-freiburg.de
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Finke
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Bertz
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Schmoor
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Veelken
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Behringer
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Wäsch
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kunzmann
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Heidecker
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Lang
authors.forename: U
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Meyer-König
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Mertelsmann
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000756:Anemia, Sideroblastic / Q000628:therapy; D000961:Antilymphocyte Serum / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D016026:Bone Marrow Transplantation / Q000379:methods*; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006086:Graft vs Host Disease / Q000276:immunology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D006801:Humans; D015464:Leukemia, Myelogenous, Chronic, BCR-ABL Positive / Q000628:therapy; D007951:Leukemia, Myeloid / Q000628:therapy; D007958:Leukocyte Count; D008875:Middle Aged; D009190:Myelodysplastic Syndromes / Q000276:immunology / Q000628:therapy*; D054198:Precursor Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma / Q000628:therapy; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*; D014184:Transplantation, Homologous
chemical_list: D000961:Antilymphocyte Serum