Unrelated Bone Marrow Transplant Recipients Research Articles

Isolation of a novel intertypic recombinant human mastadenovirus B2 from two unrelated bone marrow transplant recipients.

Human adenoviruses (HAdV) are well-known opportunistic pathogens of immunocompromised adult and pediatric patients but specific associations between HAdV species or individual HAdV types and disease are poorly understood.In this study we report the isolation of a novel HAdV-B2 genotype from two unrelated immunocompromised patients, both recipients of a hematopoietic cell transplant. In both patients, the course of HAdV infection is consistent with a scenario of reactivation of a latent virus rather than a primary opportunistic infection.Archived HAdV PCR-positive plasma, urine, and stool specimens were processed for virus isolation and detailed molecular characterization. Virus isolates were recovered from patient 1 from PCR-positive urine specimens obtained at days 103 and 116 after transplant in association with gross hematuria, and from a stool specimen obtained 138 days after transplant in association with diarrhea. An isolate was recovered from patient 2 from a PCR-positive urine specimen. Hexon and fiber gene amplification and sequencing were carried out for initial molecular typing, identifying the isolates as an intertypic recombinant with a HAdV-11-like hexon gene and a HAdV-77-like fiber gene. Comprehensive restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis was performed on viral DNA purified from urine and stool isolates, and next generation whole genome sequencing was carried out on purified viral genomic DNA. The genomes of the two isolated strains are 99.5% identical and represent the same RFLP genomic variant. The identified virus is a novel HAdV-B2 genotype designated HAdV-78 exhibiting a HAdV-11-like penton base, a HAdV-11-like hexon and a HAdV-77-like fiber (P11H11F77).

ALDH2 Polymorphism Has a Significant Impact on Transplant Related Mortality after HLA-Matched Bone Marrow Transplantation

Background:Aldehyde dehydrogenase 2 (ALDH2), a mitochondrial enzyme known to degrade acetaldehyde metabolized from ethanol, is also involved in critically important biological processes such as drug metabolism and DNA repair in hematopoietic stem cells. Based on its role in these biological processes, we hypothesized that a functional ALDH2Glu504Lys polymorphism, which is highly prevalent in East Asian populations, could affect the outcome of hematopoietic transplant recipients. Here, we investigated the association between recipient and donor ALDH2 polymorphism and the clinical outcomes of bone marrow transplantation (BMT).Methods.:We analyzed the Japanese national registry data for 409 patients who underwent allogeneic BMT from an HLA-matched unrelated donor through the Japan Marrow Donor Program. The probability of overall survival (OS) was estimated according to the Kaplan-Meier method. The probabilities of relapse, transplant-related mortality (TRM), engraftment, and graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) were estimated based on cumulative incidence curves. Competing events were death without relapse for relapse, relapse for TRM, death without engraftment for engraftment, and death without GVHD for GVHD. To evaluate the impact of recipient and donor ALDH2 polymorphism on transplant outcomes, we estimated hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) after adjusting for potential confounders. The Cox proportional hazards model was used to evaluate the effect on OS, whereas Fine and Gray's proportional hazards model was used for the other endpoints.Results.:The median follow-up period in survivors was 6.3 years (range, 0.3-13.1 years). The unadjusted 3-year OS rate was 51% (95% CI, 43%-57%) in Glu/Glu genotype recipients, 52% (43%-60%) in Glu/Lys genotype recipients, and 43% (25%-60%) in Lys/Lys genotype recipients. We did not observe a statistically significant association between the recipient ALDH2 polymorphism and OS. The cumulative incidence of unadjusted 3-year TRM was 28% (21%-34%) in Glu/Glu genotype recipients, 25% (18%-33%) in Glu/Lys genotype recipients, and 50% (29%-68%) in Lys/Lys genotype recipients. The recipient ALDH2 Lys/Lys genotype was significantly associated with a higher TRM, with a HR relative to Glu/Glu genotype of 2.45 (95% CI = 1.22-4.90, P = 0.01). Among the causes of TRM, the incidence rate of organ failure in recipients with the Lys/Lys genotype was twice as high as in recipients with the Glu/Glu genotype (5.9 vs. 3.0 per 1,000 person-days). A statistically significant association between the recipient ALDH2 polymorphism and relapse or GVHD was not observed. With regard to engraftment, the cumulative incidence of platelet engraftment at day 50 was 82% (76%-87%) in Glu/Glu genotype recipients, 80% (72%-85%) in Glu/Lys genotype recipients, and 65% (47%-78%) in Lys/Lys genotype recipients. Compared to the recipient Glu/Glu genotype, the recipient Lys/Lys genotype was marginally significantly associated with delayed platelet engraftment (HR = 0.60, 95% CI = 0.43-1.03, P = 0.06). In contrast, donor ALDH2 polymorphism did not show any significant association with transplant outcomes.Conclusions:We observed poor TRM and delayed platelet engraftment in HLA-matched unrelated BMT recipients with ALDH2 Lys/Lys genotype. Taken functional significance of this polymorphism, our results might indicate that recipient ALDH2 polymorphism could affect the metabolism of chemotherapeutic agents leading to higher TRM and delayed platelet engraftment. DisclosuresNo relevant conflicts of interest to declare.

The Impact of Donor Age on Outcome after Unrelated Bone Marrow Transplantation: Comparison with Unrelated Cord Blood Transplantation

Background: Donor selection is one of key factors for better outcomes after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). It is shown that increased donor age is associated with high mortality. In the era of high-resolution typing of HLA and various methodological options in HSCT (e.g. conditioning regimens or cell source), however, the significance of donor age in the selection of donor or cell source is unclear. Here we examined the impact of donor age on clinical outcome after unrelated bone marrow transplantation (UBMT) and compared to the outcome after unrelated cord blood transplantation (UCBT).Patients and methods: For this retrospective cohort study, clinical data of donors and recipients were obtained from the registry data of the Japan Society of Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation (JSHCT). This study included 6035 adult patients 16 years of age or older with AML, MDS, ALL, or CML who received the first HSCT between 2000 and 2010. Among them, 3304 recipients received UBMT from 8/8 HLA-matched or 7/8 HLA-matched for HLA-A, -B, -C, and -DRB1 allele-level donor and 2731 recipients received single-unit UCBT from maximum 2-antigen (HLA-A, -B, -DR antigen-level) mismatched donor. Risk factors for overall mortality and other endpoints were analyzed using Cox proportional hazards models and Fine and Gray's proportional hazards models, respectively.Results: The median ages of UBMT and UCBT recipients were 42 years (range, 16-77) and 50 years (range, 16-82), respectively. The median age of UBMT donor was 34 years (range, 20-55). Among 3304 UBMT recipients, older donor age (≥40 years) was a significant risk factor for overall mortality (adjusted HR, 1.14; 95% CI, 1.03-1.27, p=0.015) and grades II-IV acute graft-versus-host disease (aGVHD) (adjusted HR, 1.27; 95% CI, 1.13-1.43, p<0.001) after adjusting for other significant factors in the multivariable model. Similar results were obtained using donor age as a continuous variable (overall mortality: adjusted HR, 1.01; 95% CI, 1.00-1.02, p=0.007, aGVHD: adjusted HR, 1.02; 95% CI, 1.01-1.03, p<0.001). The effect of donor age on overall mortality was strongly detected in patients with the standard risk disease (interaction p=0.058) or recipients from 7/8 HLA-matched donor (interaction p=0.078). Therefore, we compared outcomes of the five groups including UCBT by donor types (8/8 matched younger donor, 8/8 matched older donor, 7/8 matched younger donor, 7/8 matched older donor and cord blood) only among the standard risk group (Figure). Survival in recipients from 8/8 matched older donor was similar to that in recipients from 7/8 matched younger donor (adjusted HR, 1.03; 95% CI, 0.83-1.28, p=0.790). In recipients from 7/8 matched older donor, the survival was comparable to that in recipients of cord blood (adjusted HR, 0.91; 95% CI, 0.73-1.13, p=0.398).Conclusions: The outcome of HSCT recipients with older donor (≥40 years) was worse compared with that of recipients with younger donor, especially in the standard risk group or HLA-mismatched donors. A 7/8 matched younger donor is a viable option as well as an 8/8 matched older donor in the absence of an 8/8 matched younger donor. In addition, UCBT is a reasonable option in the absence of these donors. Intensive GVHD prophylaxis in recipients with older donor might improve outcome, but further studies are needed to test this hypothesis. [Display omitted] DisclosuresNo relevant conflicts of interest to declare.

Relative incidences and outcomes of Clostridium difficile infection following transplantation of unrelated cord blood, unrelated bone marrow, and related peripheral blood in adult patients: a single institute study.

Clostridium difficile is a major cause of nosocomial diarrhea. The incidence and prognosis of C. difficile-associated diarrhea (CDAD) has not yet been assessed in adult patients after unrelated cord blood transplantation (uCBT). The medical records of 135 adult unrelated cord blood transplant recipients were reviewed retrospectively to investigate the clinical features of CDAD after uCBT. These data were compared to medical records of 39 unrelated bone marrow transplant recipients and 27 related peripheral blood stem cell transplant recipients as controls. A total of 17 recipients developed CDAD, with onset occurring at a median of 22 days (range, 0-56 days) after transplantation. Among the unrelated cord blood transplant recipients, 11 (9%) developed CDAD. These results were comparable with those of CDAD after unrelated bone marrow transplantation (uBMT) (2/39, 6%) and related peripheral blood stem cell transplantation (rPBSCT) (4/27, 16%) (P=0.37). Fifteen of the infected recipients were successfully treated with oral metronidazole, vancomycin, or cessation of antibiotics. The remaining 2 recipients who developed CDAD after uCBT died of other causes. The development of CDAD did not negatively affect overall survival after uCBT. These data indicate that the incidence and prognosis of CDAD after uCBT are comparable with those after uBMT and rPBSCT.

Mismatching at HLA-DPB1 Is Not Associated with Survival in Patients with Acquired Aplastic Anemia Who Receive Unrelated Bone Marrow Transplantation

DNA typing for HLA-A, -B, -C, -DQB1 and -DRB1 determines outcome in patients with severe aplastic anemia (SAA) who receive unrelated bone marrow transplantation (U-BMT). Based on our previous study of 300 subjects, complete matched (10/10) donors are preferable, but 1-allele-mismatched (9/10) donors are also acceptable. Several studies have addressed the additive effects of HLA-DPB1 for patients with hematological malignancies. In recent reports, HLA-DPB1 mismatching decreased the incidence of relapse, but increased the incidence of acute GVHD. However, the impact of matching for HLA-DPB1 remains unknown in SAA patients. To explore the impact of HLA-DPB1 on the outcome, we analyzed outcomes in 169 recipients with SAA who received U-BMT from an HLA complete matched or 1-allele mismatched donor through the Japan Marrow Donor Program. Median patient age was 17 years (range: 1 to 64 years), and 102 males and 67 females were included. Among 169 pairs, 101 were matched for 10/10 alleles and 68 matched for 9/10 alleles. Although the overall survival was comparable between the groups (10/10 matched group; 75.2%, 9/10 matched group; 64.5%, p=0.633), the incidence of acute GVHD (II–IV) was significantly higher in the 9/10 matched group (15.3%) than in 10/10 matched group (32.2%) (p=0.012). Therefore the impact of HLA-DPB1 matching was analyzed independently in each group. In the 10/10 matched group, 30 of 101 pairs (30%) were matched for HLA-DPB1, whereas 71 pairs (70%) were mismatched for HLA-DPB1. In the 9/10 matched group, 21 of 68 pairs (30%) were matched for HLA-DPB1, whereas 47 pairs (70%) were mismatched for HLA-DPB1. In the 10/10 matched transplants, the survival rate was comparable between the HLA-DPB1 matched group (74.4%) and the HLA-DPB1 mismatched group (75.7%) (p=0.894). The incidence of acute GVHD (II-IV) was lower in the HLA-DPB1 matched group (8.0%) than in the HLA-DPB1 mismatched group (18.1%), but this difference was not significant (p=0.193). In 9/10 matched transplants, the survival rate was comparable between the HLA-DPB1 matched group (71.4%) and the HLA-DPB1 mismatched group (61.7%) (p=0.826). The incidence of acute GVHD (II-IV) was also lower in the HLADPB1 matched group (21.0%) than in the HLA-DPB1 mismatched group (37.2%), but this difference was not significant (p=0.169). The incidence of chronic GVHD and rejection rate were not associated with HLA-DPB1 matching. In conclusion, HLA-DPB1 matching is not essential for U-BMT recipients with SAA when 10/10 or 9/10 allele-matched donors are available.

Indiscernible benefit of high-resolution HLA typing in improving long-term clinical outcome of unrelated umbilical cord blood transplant

The success of allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation depends in part on the accuracy of human leukocyte antigen (HLA) matching between the donor-recipient pair. The higher the number of matching HLA alleles, the smaller the chance that the transplant recipient will develop complications. Umbilical cord blood (UCB) transplantation was noted to result in a remarkably low frequency and severity of graft-versus-host disease (GvHD) and graft rejection compared to that in unrelated bone marrow transplant recipients. At present most banks match UCB donors for respective recipients by HLA-A, -B low-resolution typing and -DRB1 high-resolution typing. We retrospectively conducted high-resolution sequence-based HLA typing on DNA samples available from 65 Chinese UCB-recipient pairs typed previously by using low-resolution sequence-specific oligonucleotide probes and sequence-specific primers, and evaluated the clinical outcome. High-resolution typing revealed imperceptible HLA alleles that were hardly identified in low-resolution typing. Univariate analyses demonstrated no significant correlation between the extents of high-resolution HLA disparity with engraftment, graft failure, acute GvHD, transplant-related mortality and long-term 6-year overall survival. Data from the study suggest that high-resolution typing for HLA-A, -B and -DRB1 contributed no substantial improvement to UCB transplant outcome. Low-resolution typing appears to be amenable to matching UCB-recipient pairs without compromising the quality of transplant.

High spontaneous IL-10 production in unrelated bone marrow transplant recipients is associated with fewer transplant-related complications and early deaths.

Interleukin 10 (IL-10) is a potent inhibitor of proliferative T cell responses toward alloantigens, and suppresses the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines which are important in cellular activation and recruitment to sites of inflammation. Because of these properties, we hypothesized that high IL-10 production in patients prior to BMT may predict a better outcome. To investigate this, peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMNC) were obtained from 58 recipients (11 autologous, 25 related donor (RD), and 22 unrelated donor (URD)), prior to conditioning therapy. PBMNC were cultured for 24 h in the presence and absence of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and culture supernatants were assayed for IL-10 using an ELISA method. Spontaneously produced and LPS-stimulated IL-10 levels were correlated with the development of transplant-related complications (TRC) including grade II-IV acute GVHD, veno-occlusive disease, idiopathic pneumonia syndrome and multi-organ dysfunction syndrome, and with death before day 100. For the autologous group, there were no TRC and only one death prior to day 100; therefore, no statistical comparisons to IL-10 levels could be made. In the RD group, 36% developed one or more TRC and 24% died before day 100; however, there were no statistically significant associations between spontaneous or LPS-induced IL-10 levels. In URD patients 41% developed TRC and 55% died prior to day 100. In this group, higher levels of spontaneous IL-10 production were associated with a lower overall occurrence of TRC (P = 0.03) and early death (P = 0.04). Our data would indicate that higher levels of IL-10 production prior to URD BMT may predict fewer TRC, as well as early deaths. The hypothesis that high IL-10 production prior to BMT may decrease complications following URD BMT warrants further testing.

Granulocyte Colony-Stimulating Factor After Allogeneic Bone Marrow Transplantation

Hematopoietic growth factors have been shown to be effective in reducing the period of neutropenia after autologous bone marrow transplantation (BMT). Initial concerns over potential aggravation of graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) and increase in the incidence of relapse in patients with myeloid leukemias influenced the number of studies using hematopoietic growth factors after allogeneic BMT. We report the experience with 50 patients treated at a single institution using granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) after allogeneic sibling (n = 30) and matched unrelated (n = 20) BMT. The time to an absolute neutrophil count > or = 500/microL was significantly faster in patients who received G-CSF and cyclosporine and prednisone for GVHD prophylaxis when compared with historical control patients receiving the same GVHD prophylaxis (10 v 13 days, P < .01). A similar accelerated myeloid engraftment was observed for those patients who received the addition of methotrexate for GVHD prophylaxis when compared with historical control patients receiving the same GVHD prophylaxis regimen (16 v 19 days, P < .05). The median time to engraftment for patients receiving a matched unrelated BMT and G-CSF was 17 days (range 13 to 26). We did not observe any increase in GVHD or early mortality in the matched related sibling BMT. The incidence of acute GVHD in the matched unrelated BMT recipients was also low at 21%; however, 9 patients (45%) died within 100 days of the date of BMT, similar to the experience reported with granulocyte-macrophage CSF. This study confirms the efficacy of G-CSF in accelerating myeloid engraftment after allogeneic matched sibling BMT. The higher early mortality associated with patients receiving matched unrelated BMT suggests that randomized controlled trials using G-CSF after allogeneic BMT should be performed.

Granulocyte colony-stimulating factor after allogeneic bone marrow transplantation

Hematopoietic growth factors have been shown to be effective in reducing the period of neutropenia after autologous bone marrow transplantation (BMT). Initial concerns over potential aggravation of graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) and increase in the incidence of relapse in patients with myeloid leukemias influenced the number of studies using hematopoietic growth factors after allogeneic BMT. We report the experience with 50 patients treated at a single institution using granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) after allogeneic sibling (n = 30) and matched unrelated (n = 20) BMT. The time to an absolute neutrophil count &gt; or = 500/microL was significantly faster in patients who received G-CSF and cyclosporine and prednisone for GVHD prophylaxis when compared with historical control patients receiving the same GVHD prophylaxis (10 v 13 days, P &lt; .01). A similar accelerated myeloid engraftment was observed for those patients who received the addition of methotrexate for GVHD prophylaxis when compared with historical control patients receiving the same GVHD prophylaxis regimen (16 v 19 days, P &lt; .05). The median time to engraftment for patients receiving a matched unrelated BMT and G-CSF was 17 days (range 13 to 26). We did not observe any increase in GVHD or early mortality in the matched related sibling BMT. The incidence of acute GVHD in the matched unrelated BMT recipients was also low at 21%; however, 9 patients (45%) died within 100 days of the date of BMT, similar to the experience reported with granulocyte-macrophage CSF. This study confirms the efficacy of G-CSF in accelerating myeloid engraftment after allogeneic matched sibling BMT. The higher early mortality associated with patients receiving matched unrelated BMT suggests that randomized controlled trials using G-CSF after allogeneic BMT should be performed.

Correlation of HLA-DP disparity, primary MLC reactivity, and incidence of graft versus host disease (GVHD) in unrelated bone marrow transplant recipients

Correlation of HLA-DP disparity, primary MLC reactivity, and incidence of graft versus host disease (GVHD) in unrelated bone marrow transplant recipients