Cyclosporine is required to prevent severe acute GVHD following T-cell-depleted peripheral blood stem cell transplantation.
Reduced immunosuppression may improve immune recovery and increase the graft-versus-leukemia effect after allogeneic stem cell transplantation. Furthermore, the requirement for post-transplant immunosuppression following extensive T-cell depletion remains unclear. We therefore evaluated the role of cyclosporine (CSA) in recipients of HLA-identical T-cell-depleted peripheral blood stem cell transplants (PBSCT), followed by donor lymphocyte infusions (DLIs) scheduled on days +45 and +100. Before day+45, successive cohorts of patients received decreasing amounts of CSA: standard-dose (SD) CSA, low-dose (LD) CSA, or no CSA until day+45. LD CSA was as effective as SD CSA in preventing acute graft-versus-host disease (GVHD). However, moderate-to-severe acute GVHD was significantly more frequent before the day +45 DLI in patients receiving no CSA (33.3 vs 12.7%, P=0.036, including the only four grade III-IV cases). As a result of higher rates of early acute GVHD, more patients in the 'no CSA' group failed to receive any DLI (30.7 vs 7.1%, P=0.01). Overall, there was no difference in the incidence of acute GVHD, as patients receiving CSA developed more GVHD after DLI. Similarly, no significant differences were found in chronic GVHD, transplant-related mortality, or survival. These results define a role for CSA in preventing GVHD at low T-cell doses following PBSCT.
Stem Cell Allotransplantation Section, Hematology Branch, NHLBI, National Institutes of Health, Bathesda, MD 20892, USA.
S R
SR
Solomon
R
R
Nakamura
E J
EJ
Read
S F
SF
Leitman
C
C
Carter
R
R
Childs
C E
CE
Dunbar
N S
NS
Young
A J
AJ
Barrett
D000208:Acute Disease; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D016572:Cyclosporine / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D005260:Female; D006086:Graft vs Host Disease / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000517:prevention & control*; D006801:Humans; D007166:Immunosuppressive Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D008212:Lymphocyte Depletion / Q000009:adverse effects*; D017710:Lymphocyte Transfusion; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D036102:Peripheral Blood Stem Cell Transplantation / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000379:methods* / Q000401:mortality; D013997:Time Factors; D014184:Transplantation, Homologous
D007166:Immunosuppressive Agents; D016572:Cyclosporine