STEM CELL TRANSPLANTATION AS A POSSIBLE STRATEGY FOR TREATING STANDARD THERAPY-RESISTANT ANKYLOSING SPONDYLITIS

Abstract

The authors have analyzed the literature dealing with studies of the efficiency and safety of stem cell transplantation (SCT) in patients with ankylosing spondylitis (AS) through the electronic resources Pubmed and Medline by using the keywords «bone marrow transplantation», «hematopoietic stem cell transplantation», «ankylosing spondylitis», «autoimmune diseases», and «sacroiliac joint biopsy». The paper describes four cases of SCT in AS patients, including transplantation that was carried out in one patient with lymphoma concurrent with AS, in two AS patients without blood cancers, and in one patient with AS concurrent with myeloid leukemia. Drug-free remission was achieved in 3 cases: lymphoma concurrent with AS (n=1), AS concurrent with myeloid leukemia (n=1), and AS without comorbidities (n=1). In addition to an improvement in the course of AS, there were also two cases with clinical presentations of AS after SCT. The given cases show that SCT can be basically used to induce drug-free remission in patients with severe forms of standard therapy-resistant AS. However, the introduction of SCT in clinical practice needs to adjust the technique to the specific features of AS patients.