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Post-Transplant Events

A pilot study of low-dose recombinant interleukin-2 for acute lymphoblastic malignancy after unmanipulated allogeneic blood and marrow transplantation

Bone Marrow Transplantation volume 42, pages 535–539 (2008)Cite this article

Abstract

The objective of this study was to determine the efficacy and safety of low-dose recombinant interleukin-2(IL-2) administered to patients with acute lymphoblastic malignancy at high-risk of relapse after unmanipulated HLA-identical or HLA-haploidentical allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT). We studied 19 patients with acute lymphoblastic malignancy who underwent IL-2 treatment for a high probability of disease recurrence after allo-HSCT between July 2004 and June 2006 at Peking University Institute of Hematology. With a median follow-up of 6 months (range, 3–19 months) after the first IL-2 therapy, 14 of 15 evaluable patients in our cohort were disease-free (93.33%), whereas one patient in ‘high risk’ pretransplantation category relapsed. Toxicities from IL-2 were mainly fever, pain, redness and swelling at the injection site. Four patients left the study because of hyperpyrexia. Local and reversible chronic GVHD was observed in 6 of 15 patients (40%). Similar cGVHD occurrences were observed between the two groups of patients undergoing HLA-identical HSCT (three of seven patients) and HLA-haploidentical HSCT (two of six patients), respectively. In conclusion, low-dose IL-2 subcutaneous administration from 100 days for a prolonged period could be a safe and effective strategy to prevent relapse in acute lymphoblastic malignancy patients with high risk of recurrence after unmanipulated allo-HSCT.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by High Technology Research and Development Program of China (No. 2006AA02Z4A0), Key Project Foundation of the Ministry of Public Health and Program for Innovative Research Team in University (No.IRT0702).

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  1. Peking University Institute of Hematology, Peking University People's Hospital, Beijing, China

    K-Y Liu, Y-H Chen, D-H Liu, L-P Xu & X-J Huang

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  1. K-Y Liu
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Correspondence to X-J Huang.

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Liu, KY., Chen, YH., Liu, DH. et al. A pilot study of low-dose recombinant interleukin-2 for acute lymphoblastic malignancy after unmanipulated allogeneic blood and marrow transplantation. Bone Marrow Transplant 42, 535–539 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/bmt.2008.208

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