Palifermin in allogeneic HSCT: many questions remain

Abstract

Mucositis has become the dose-limiting complication of high-dose chemotherapy. Therefore, recombinant keratinocyte growth factor (KGF)-1, Palifermin, seems a major breakthrough in the management of patients receiving intensive treatment for solid tumours and haematological malignancies.1 Palifermin reduces the incidence and severity of oral mucositis and its clinical consequences.1 The side effects of treatment are generally mild and transient, and are confined to skin rashes, pruritus, mouth and tongue disorders and altered taste.1 This led the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to approve palifermin for the prevention of oral mucositis of patients with haematological malignancies and boosted the development of other mucosa-protective growth factors, such as repifermin (KGF-2) and velafermin (fibroblast growth factor-20).