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Clinical significance of low-dose total body irradiation in HLA-mismatched reduced-intensity stem cell transplantation

Abstract

The significance of low-dose total body irradiation (TBI) in HLA-mismatched reduced-intensity conditioning stem cell transplantation (RICT) remains unknown. We, retrospectively, evaluated the impact of low-dose TBI in patients with hematological malignancies who received first RICT from ≥1 antigen-mismatched donors between 2004 and 2014. Of the 575 patients, 361 patients received low-dose TBI (2 or 4 Gy). There were no significant differences in neutrophil engraftment or platelet recovery between TBI and non-TBI groups. The benefit of low-dose TBI on neutrophil engraftment was not observed in any subgroups. Low-dose TBI was not associated with decreased secondary graft failure. Suppressed mixed chimerism and autologous hematopoiesis by low-dose TBI was observed. There were no significant differences in cumulative incidences of acute GVHD or nonrelapse mortality rates in either group; however, low-dose TBI improved overall survival (OS), especially in patients with high-risk disease, multi-HLA mismatch, and fludarabine/busulfan conditioning. Multivariate analysis demonstrated that low-dose TBI was an independent prognostic factor for OS. Compared with the non-TBI group, 4 Gy TBI, but not 2 Gy TBI, was associated with increased acute GVHD and reduced relapse. These findings suggest that low-dose TBI may be beneficial for patients at high risk for relapse in HLA-mismatched RICT.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank all physicians at the centers who contributed valuable data on transplantation to the JSHCT and Japan Marrow Donor Program (JMDP). The authors also thank all the members of the data management committees of JSHCT and JMDP for their assistance.

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Correspondence to Yoshinobu Kanda.

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Fujiwara, Si., Kanda, J., Tatara, R. et al. Clinical significance of low-dose total body irradiation in HLA-mismatched reduced-intensity stem cell transplantation. Bone Marrow Transplant 54, 1327–1336 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41409-019-0434-3

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