Post-transplant cyclophosphamide as graft-versus-host disease prophylaxis in HLA matched sibling donor stem cell transplantation for patients with acute leukemia.

Abstract

e19523 Background: Graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) is a life-threatening complication of Allogeneic Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation (HSCT). Calcineurin inhibitor (CNI) and methotrexate (MTX) have been used as the standard GVHD prophylaxis in HLA-matched HSCT. Promising clinical trial data using high dose post-transplant Cyclophosphamide (PT-Cy) with or without additional immunosuppressive agents (IS) have shown that it’s an effective, well tolerated alternative. However, experiences are limited with controversial results. Methods: We analyzed 62 patients with Acute Leukemia (39 males, 23 females) with age ranges from 18 to 60 years underwent allogeneic HSCT from matched sibling donors (MSD) using reduced intensity chemotherapy at Maadi Armed Forces Medical Hospital after informed consent. They were randomized into 2 groups according to GVHD prophylaxis regimen. The 1st group (40 patients) received MTX in the following doses; day+2 (15mg), day +4 (10 mg), day +6 (10 mg) with Cyclosporine (5mg/kg) from day -3 till day +90 and Mycophenolate (MMF) (2 -3gm/day) from day +1 till day +30. The 2nd group(22 patients) received PT-Cy (45 mg/kg/day) on days +3 and +4 with Cyclosporine (5mg/kg) from day +5 till day +30 & MMF:(2-3gm /day) from day +5 till +30. Results: At median 1 year Post Allo, PT-Cy was associated with statistically significant lowering of chronic GVHD (cGVHD) incidence compared to MTX group (22.7%, 56.4%) respectively (P = 0.011). Incidence of acute GVHD (aGVHD) at day +100 was (40%, 22.7%) in group 1, 2 respectively (P = 0.169). 92% of patients in group 1 and 86.4 % of patients in group 2 were engrafted with full donor chimerism on day +30 (P = 0.659). The cumulative incidence of relapse at 4 years after transplantation was 17.9 % for group 1 and 36.4 % for group 2 (P > 0.05). Relapse related mortality were 16.2% among MTX group while 27.3% in PT-Cy group (P = 0.10). Transplant related mortality (TRM) in MTX group were; Severe aGVHD (8%), cGVHD (10%), Hepatic Toxicity (8%), Nephrotoxicity (2.7%) & ARDS (5.4%). In PT-Cy group TRM were; septicemia (18%), severe aGVHD (4.5%) & ARDS (4.5%). Cumulative 4 years Disease Free Survival (DFS) & Overall survival (OS) in PT-Cy group were (51.8 %, 46.4%) respectively while (69.3%, 39%) in MTX group which is statistically non-significant (P > 0.05). Conclusions: For GVHD prophylaxis in MSD, PT-Cy is a safe alternative that reduces the risk of cGVHD in comparison with MTx based regimen without affecting Relapse rate, DFS or OS.