Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Original Article
  • Published:

Lymphoma

Allogeneic stem cell transplantation following reduced-intensity conditioning can induce durable clinical and molecular remissions in relapsed lymphomas: pre-transplant disease status and histotype heavily influence outcome

Abstract

The safety and efficacy of reduced-intensity conditioning (RIC) followed by allogeneic stem cell transplantation (SCT) for relapsed lymphomas remains unresolved. We conducted a prospective, multicentered, phase II trial. A total of 170 relapsed/refractory lymphomas received a RIC regimen followed by SCT from sibling donors. The primary study end point was non-relapse mortality (NRM). Histologies were non-Hodgkin's lymphomas (NHL) (indolent (LG-NHL), n=63; aggressive (HG-NHL), n=61; mantle cell lymphoma (MCL), n=14) and Hodgkin's disease (HD, n=32). Median follow-up was 33 months (range, 12–82). The results show that frequencies were as follows: cumulative NRM at 3 years, 14%; acute and chronic graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) 35 and 52%, respectively; 3-year overall survival (OS), 69% for LG-NHL, 69% for HG-NHL, 45% for MCL and 32% for HD (P=0.058); and 3-year relapse incidence, 29, 31, 35 and 81%, respectively (P<0.001). Relapse risk differed significantly at 3 years between follicular lymphoma (FL) and chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) (14 versus 46%, P=0.04). Molecular remission occurred in 94 and 40% (P=0.002) of patients with FL and CLL, respectively. On multivariate analysis, OS was influenced by chemorefractory disease (hazard ratio (HR)=3.6), diagnosis of HD (HR=3.5), and acute GVHD (HR=5.9). RIC allogeneic SCT is a feasible and effective salvage strategy in both indolent and aggressive NHL

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Vose JM, Bierman PJ, Anderson JR, Kessinger A, Pierson J, Nelson J et al. Progressive disease after high-dose therapy and autologous transplantation for lymphoid malignancy: clinical course and patient follow-up. Blood 1992; 80: 2142–2148.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Paltiel O, Rubinstein C, Or R, Nagler A, Gordon L, Deutsch L et al. Factors associated with survival in patients with progressive disease following autologous transplant for lymphoma. Bone Marrow Transplant 2003; 31: 565–569.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Jones RJ, Ambinder RF, Piantadosi S, Santos GW . Evidence of a graft-versus-lymphoma effect associated with allogeneic bone marrow transplantation. Blood 1991; 77: 649–653.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Chopra R, Goldstone AH, Pearce R, Philip T, Petersen F, Appelbaum F et al. Autologous versus allogeneic bone marrow transplantation for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma: a case-controlled analysis of the European Bone Marrow Transplant Group Registry data. J Clin Oncol 1992; 10: 1690–1695.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Bierman PJ, Sweetenham JW, Loberiza Jr FR, Taghipour G, Lazarus HM, Rizzo JD et al. Lymphoma Working Committee of the International Bone Marrow Transplant Registry and the European Group for Blood and Marrow Transplantation. Syngeneic hematopoietic stem-cell transplantation for Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma: a comparison with allogeneic and autologous transplantation. The Lymphoma Working Committee of the International Bone Marrow Transplant Registry and the European Group for Blood and Marrow Transplantation. J Clin Oncol 2003; 21: 3744–3753.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Peniket AJ, Ruiz de Elvira MC, Taghipour G, Cordonnier C, Gluckman E, de Witte T et al. European Bone Marrow Transplantation (EBMT) Lymphoma Registry. An EBMT registry matched study of allogeneic stem cell transplants for lymphoma: allogeneic transplantation is associated with a lower relapse rate but a higher procedure-related mortality rate than autologous transplantation. Bone Marrow Transplant 2003; 31: 667–678.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Diaconescu R, Flowers CR, Storer B, Sorror ML, Maris MB, Maloney DG et al. Morbidity and mortality with nonmyeloablative compared with myeloablative conditioning before hematopoietic cell transplantation from HLA-matched related donors. Blood 2004; 104: 1550–1558.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Valcarcel D, Martino R, Sureda A, Canals C, Altes A, Briones J et al. Conventional versus reduced-intensity conditioning regimen for allogeneic stem cell transplantation in patients with hematological malignancies. Eur J Haematol 2005; 74: 144–151.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Robinson SP, Goldstone AH, Mackinnon S, Carella A, Russell N, de Elvira CR et al. Lymphoma Working Party of the European Group for Blood and Bone Marrow Transplantation. Chemoresistant or aggressive lymphoma predicts for a poor outcome following reduced-intensity allogeneic progenitor cell transplantation: an analysis from the Lymphoma Working Party of the European Group for Blood and Bone Marrow Transplantation. Blood 2002; 100: 4310–4316.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Faulkner RD, Craddock C, Byrne JL, Mahendra P, Haynes AP, Prentice HG et al. BEAM-alemtuzumab reduced-intensity allogeneic stem cell transplantation for lymphoproliferative diseases: GVHD, toxicity, and survival in 65 patients. Blood 2004; 103: 428–434.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Corradini P, Dodero A, Zallio F, Caracciolo D, Casini M, Bregni M et al. Graft-versus-lymphoma effect in relapsed peripheral T-cell non-Hodgkin's lymphomas after reduced-intensity conditioning followed by allogeneic transplantation of hematopoietic cells. J Clin Oncol 2004; 22: 2172–2176.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Corradini P, Tarella C, Olivieri A, Gianni AM, Voena C, Zallio F et al. Reduced intensity conditioning followed by allografting of hematopoietic cells can produce clinical and molecular remissions in patients with poor-risk hematologic malignancies. Blood 2002; 99: 75–82.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Glucksberg H, Storb R, Fefer A, Buckner CD, Neiman PE, Clift RA et al. Clinical manifestations of graft-versus-host disease in human recipients of marrow from HL-A-matched sibling donors. Transplantation 1974; 18: 295–304.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Sullivan KM, Shulman HM, Storb R, Weiden PL, Witherspoon RP, McDonald GB et al. Chronic graft-versus-host disease in 52 patients: adverse natural course and successful treatment with combination immunosuppression. Blood 1981; 57: 267–276.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  15. Cheson BD, Horning SJ, Coiffier B, Shipp MA, Fisher RI, Connors JM et al. Report of an international workshop to standardize response criteria for non-Hodgkin's lymphomas. NCI Sponsored International Working Group. J Clin Oncol 1999; 17: 1244–1253.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. Corradini P, Ladetto M, Zallio F, Astolfi M, Rizzo E, Sametti S et al. Long-term follow-up of indolent lymphoma patients treated with high-dose sequential chemotherapy and autografting: evidence that durable molecular and clinical remission frequently can be attained only in follicular subtypes. J Clin Oncol 2004; 22: 1460–1468.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Marubini E, Valsecchi MG . Analysing survival data for clinical trials and observational studies. John Wiley and Sons: Chichester, UK, 1995; 10: 335–344.

  18. Gray RJ . A class of k-sample tests for comparing the cumulative incidence of a competing risk. Ann Stat 1988; 16: 1141–1154.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Fine JP, Gray RJ . A proportional Hazards model for the subdistribution of competing risk. 1999; 94: 496–509.

  20. Durrleman S, Simon R . Flexible regression models with cubic splines. Stat Med 1989; 8: 551–561.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  21. Morris E, Thomson K, Craddock C, Mahendra P, Milligan D, Cook G et al. Outcomes after alemtuzumab-containing reduced-intensity allogeneic transplantation regimen for relapsed and refractory non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Blood 2004; 104: 3865–3871.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  22. Perez-Simon JA, Diez-Campelo M, Martino R, Brunet S, Urbano A, Caballero MD et al. Influence of the intensity of the conditioning regimen on the characteristics of acute and chronic graft-versus-host disease after allogeneic transplantation. Br J Haematol 2005; 130: 394–403.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Mohty M, Bilger K, Jourdan E, Kuentz M, Michallet M, Bourhis JH et al. Higher doses of CD34+ peripheral blood stem cells are associated with increased mortality from chronic graft-versus-host disease after allogeneic HLA-identical sibling transplantation. Leukemia 2003; 17: 869–875.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  24. Kim SW, Tanimoto TE, Hirabayashi N, Goto S, Kami M, Yoshioka S et al. Myeloablative allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation for non-Hodgkin lymphoma: a nationwide survey in Japan. Blood 2006; 108: 382–389.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  25. Doocey RT, Toze CL, Connors JM, Nevill TJ, Gascoyne RD, Barnett MJ et al. Allogeneic haematopoietic stem-cell transplantation for relapsed and refractory aggressive histology non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Br J Haematol 2005; 131: 223–230.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Khouri IF, Saliba RM, Giralt SA, Lee MS, Okoroji GJ, Hagermeister FB et al. Nonablative allogeneic hematopoietic transplantation as adoptive immunotherapy for indolent lymphoma: low incidence of toxicity, acute graft-versus-host disease, and treatment-related mortality. Blood 2001; 98: 3595–3599.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  27. Khouri IF, Lee MS, Saliba RM, Andersson B, Anderlini P, Couriel D et al. Nonablative allogeneic stem cell transplantation for chronic lymphocytic leukemia: impact of rituximab on immunomodulation and survival. Exp Hematol 2004; 32: 28–35.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  28. Schetelig J, Thiede C, Bornhauser M, Schwerdtfeger R, Kiehl M, Beyer J et al. Evidence of a graft-versus-leukemia effect in chronic lymphocytic leukemia after reduced-intensity conditioning and allogeneic stem-cell transplantation: the Cooperative German Transplant Study Group. J Clin Oncol 2003; 21: 2747–2753.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  29. Sorror ML, Maris MB, Sandmaier BM, Storer BE, Stuart MJ, Hegenbart U et al. Hematopoietic cell transplantation after nonmyeloablative conditioning for advanced chronic lymphocytic leukemia. J Clin Oncol 2005; 23: 3819–3829.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  30. Peggs KS, Hunter A, Chopra R, Parker A, Mahendra P, Milligan D et al. Clinical evidence of a graft-versus-Hodgkin's-lymphoma effect after reduced-intensity allogeneic transplantation. Lancet 2005; 365: 1934–1941.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  31. Corradini P, Farina L . Immune-mediated attack in relapsed Hodgkin's lymphoma. Lancet 2005; 365: 1906–1908.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  32. Maris MB, Sandmaier BM, Storer BE, Chauncey T, Stuart MJ, Maziarz RT et al. Allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation after fludarabine and 2 Gy total body irradiation for relapsed and refractory mantle cell lymphoma. Blood 2004; 104: 3535–3542.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This work has been supported in part by grants from Associazione Italiana Ricerca sul Cancro (AIRC), FIRST University of Milano and Fondazione Michelangelo. The following centers and investigators contributed to the inclusion of patients in this study: Ciceri F, Department of Hematology, Ospedale San Raffaele, Milano; Benedetti F, Department of Hematology, University of Verona, Italy; Casini M, Department of Hematology, Ospedale San Maurizio, Bolzano, Italy; Levis A, Department of Hematology, Alessandria, Italy; Console G, Azienda Ospedaliera, Reggio Calabria, Italy; De Fabritis P, Department of Hematology, Ospedale S Eugenio, Roma, Italy; Brune M, University of Goeteborg, Sweden; Falda M, Department of Hematology , Ospedale San Giovanni Battista, Torino, Italy; Gallamini A, Department of Hematology, Azienda Ospedaliera Santa Croce, Cuneo, Italy; Di Bartolomeo P, Department of Hematology, Ospedale Civile, Pescara, Italy.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Consortia

Corresponding author

Correspondence to P Corradini.

Additional information

Supplementary Information accompanies the paper on the Leukemia website (http://www.nature.com/leu)

Supplementary information

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Corradini, P., Dodero, A., Farina, L. et al. Allogeneic stem cell transplantation following reduced-intensity conditioning can induce durable clinical and molecular remissions in relapsed lymphomas: pre-transplant disease status and histotype heavily influence outcome. Leukemia 21, 2316–2323 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.leu.2404822

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.leu.2404822

Keywords

This article is cited by

Search

Quick links