Paper
Bone Marrow Transplantation (2005) 35, S27–S29. doi:10.1038/sj.bmt.1704840
Treatment of refractory autoimmune diseases with autologous stem cell transplantation: focus on juvenile idiopathic arthritis
N M Wulffraat1, B Vastert1 and A Tyndall2
- 1Department of Pediatrics, Section Immunology, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands
- 2Department of Rheumatology, Felix Platter Spital, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland
Correspondence: Dr NM Wulffraat, Department of pediatrics, section immunology, University medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands. E-mail: n.wulffraat@wkz.azu.nl
Abstract
Autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT) can be performed in a variety of refractory autoimmune diseases. A retrospective multicenter analysis is presented to evaluate safety and efficacy of ASCT for refractory juvenile idiopathic arthritis. In all, 18 of the 34 patients (53%) with a follow-up of 12 to 60 months achieved a drug-free complete remission. There were three cases (9%) of transplant-related mortality and two cases of disease-related mortality (6%). Infectious complications were seen frequently. We propose adjustments in future protocols to reduce this mortality in this high-risk patient group.
Keywords:
juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA), refractory, autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT)
