title: Fewer relapses and increased chronic GVHD in patients transplanted with blood stem cells: a 5-year follow-up in a single centre study.
abstract: A total of 61 consecutive adult patients with haematological malignancies with an HLA-identical or one antigen-mismatched haploidentical family donor were randomised to allogeneic transplantation with blood stem cells (BSC) or bone marrow (BM). The median observation time was 5 years. Apart from engraftment parameters and acute graft-versus-host disease (GVHD), transplant-related mortality (TRM), incidence and severity of chronic GVHD, relapse, leukaemia-free survival (LFS) and overall survival (OS) were recorded. In the BSC and BM group, respectively, TRM was 8/30 and 4/30 (P=0.405), the incidence of chronic GVHD was 15/26 and 11/30 (P=0.138), extensive chronic GVHD was 10/26 and 4/30 (P=0.034), and relapse one and 10 patients (P=0.007). In log-rank test restricted to the cases allografted from HLA-identical donors, the difference remained significant with regard to relapse incidence (P=0.039), but not extensive chronic GVHD (P=0.072). No difference in LFS and OS was observed. In conclusion, our study strongly indicates an enhanced graft-versus-leukaemia effect in BSC recipients, which is not expressed in increased survival. The increased chronic GVHD in these patients may contribute, but the relation is complex and not yet understood.
authors.affiliation: Medical Department, Rikshospitalet University Hospital, 0027 Oslo, Norway.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Heldal
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Brinch
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Tjønnfjord
authors.forename: B G
authors.initials: BG
authors.lastname: Solheim
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Egeland
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Albrechtsen
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Aamodt
authors.forename: S A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Evensen
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D016026:Bone Marrow Transplantation / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000401:mortality; D002908:Chronic Disease; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006086:Graft vs Host Disease / Q000209:etiology*; D019337:Hematologic Neoplasms / Q000150:complications / Q000401:mortality / Q000628:therapy; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D036102:Peripheral Blood Stem Cell Transplantation / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000401:mortality; D012008:Recurrence; D016019:Survival Analysis; D016896:Treatment Outcome