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Successful therapy of chronic graft-versus-host disease manifesting as pure red cell aplasia with single-agent rituximab

Bone Marrow Transplantation volume 41, pages 595–596 (2008)Cite this article

Recently, Zaja et al.1 described the GITMO experience with rituximab as therapy for chronic graft-versus-host disease (cGVHD). In their series, an encouraging overall response rate of 65% was observed, particularly among patients with cutaneous cGVHD. One patient with cGVHD manifesting as a pure red cell aplasia (PRCA) failed to demonstrate response. Only one other report regarding the efficacy of rituximab for cGVHD manifesting as PRCA has been published to date;2 here, we report a patient with PRCA as a manifestation of cGVHD who was successfully treated with single-agent rituximab.

A 44-year-old woman with primary, refractory stage IVB diffuse large B-cell lymphoma received myeloablative chemotherapy with busulfan and cyclophosphamide followed by a PBSC graft from a sex-mismatched, ABO-mismatched (O+ patient/A+ donor) volunteer unrelated donor. Patient and donor were both CMV negative. On day +351, relapsed lymphoma was documented. After salvage chemotherapy, on day +524, she received a donor lymphocyte infusion. Since then, she has had no recurrent lymphoma or cGVHD, and is off all immunosuppression, with a Karnofsky performance status of 100%.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Division of Hematology/Oncology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA

    D M Benson Jr & S M Devine

  2. The Arthur James Cancer Hospital and Richard J Solove Research Institute, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA

    D M Benson Jr, M K Smith & S M Devine

  3. Blood and Marrow Transplantation Program, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA

    D M Benson Jr, D Krugh & S M Devine

  4. The Comprehensive Cancer Center, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA

    D M Benson Jr & S M Devine

Authors
  1. D M Benson Jr
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  2. M K Smith
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  3. D Krugh
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  4. S M Devine
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Correspondence to D M Benson Jr.

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Benson, D., Smith, M., Krugh, D. et al. Successful therapy of chronic graft-versus-host disease manifesting as pure red cell aplasia with single-agent rituximab. Bone Marrow Transplant 41, 595–596 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.bmt.1705945

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