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Uniform graft-versus-host disease prophylaxis with posttransplant cyclophosphamide, sirolimus, and mycophenolate mofetil following hematopoietic stem cell transplantation from haploidentical, matched sibling and unrelated donors

Abstract

Following the success of posttransplant cyclophosphamide (PT-CY) as graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) prophylaxis in haploidentical transplantation, this prevention strategy has progressively been used for allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT) from HLA-matched sibling (MSD) and unrelated donor (MUD). We have introduced PT-CY plus sirolimus and micophenolate mofetil (PT-CY-Sir-MMF) as GVHD prophylaxis in allo-HSCT, irrespective of donor type. This study reports on the safety and efficacy of PT-CY-Sir-MMF in 158 consecutive allo-HSCT from MSD (n = 52), MUD (n = 64), and haploidentical (n = 42) donor. Median age was 53 years and 66% had acute leukemia or myelodysplastic syndrome. Cumulative incidences of acute GHVD grade II–IV, III–IV and moderate to severe cGVHD were 27%, 9% and 27%, respectively. The incidence of hepatic sinusoidal obstruction syndrome was 9.5%. The 1-year cumulative incidence of non-relapse mortality, relapse and event-free survival were 14%, 12% and 75%, respectively. Compared with MSD and MUD, haploidentical transplantation had a higher incidence of CMV DNAemia requiring therapy (34% vs 35% and 52%, respectively, p = 0.04) and was a risk factor for grade III–IV acute GVHD (RR 2.8, p = 0.05). Our study shows that PT-CY-Sir-MMF is not only feasible and effective in preventing GVHD after haploidentical HSCT, but also in allo-HSCT from MSD and MUD.

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Fig. 1: Two myeloablative conditioning (MAC) and two reduced-intensity conditioning (RIC) regimens were used according to age, comorbidity index, and type of malignancy: (i) TBF-MAC, consisted i.v. of thiotepa 5 mg/kg/day on days −7 and −6, i.v. busulfan 3.2 mg/kg/day as a single daily dose on days −5 to −3, and fludarabine 50 mg/m2/day on days −5 to −3 or (ii) Bu-Flu-MAC containing i.v. busulfan 3.2 mg/kg/day as a single daily dose on days −6 to −3, and fludarabine 40 mg/m2/day on days −6 to −3 or (iii) TBC-RIC consisting of thiotepa 5 mg/kg/day on days −7 and −6, i.v. busulfan 3.2 mg/kg/day as a single daily dose on days −5 to −4, and fludarabine 50 mg/m2/day on days −5 to −3 or (iv) Bu-Flu-Cy RIC containing i.v. busulfan 3.2 mg/kg/day as a single daily dose on days −4 to −3, fludarabine 30 mg/m2/day on days −6 to −2 and cyclophosphamide at 14.5 mg/kg/d intravenously on days −6 and −5.
Fig. 2: Cumulative incidence of acute GVHD.
Fig. 3: Cumulative incidence of chronic GVHD.
Fig. 4: Cumulative incidence of NRM.
Fig. 5: Survival outcomes.

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JM, JS, and JLP conceived the study and interpreted the data; JM, JS, and JLP wrote the paper; JM, JS, and JLP performed the statistical analyses; JCHB, RH, IL, AP, ABR, MG, CC, EA, DN, GFS, and MAS reviewed the paper and contributed to the final draft.

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Correspondence to José Luis Piñana.

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Montoro, J., Piñana, J.L., Hernández-Boluda, J.C. et al. Uniform graft-versus-host disease prophylaxis with posttransplant cyclophosphamide, sirolimus, and mycophenolate mofetil following hematopoietic stem cell transplantation from haploidentical, matched sibling and unrelated donors. Bone Marrow Transplant 55, 2147–2159 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41409-020-0921-6

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