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Donor cell leukaemia after allogeneic haematopoietic SCT followed by prolonged thalidomide maintenance for multiple myeloma

Bone Marrow Transplantation volume 47, pages 612–615 (2012)Cite this article

Leukaemic relapses after allogeneic haematopoietic SCT (HSCT) in most instances arise from the original recipient leukaemia clone. Exceptionally, leukaemic relapse can originate from the donor haematopoietic cells.1, 2, 3 A recent review listed 64 cases of donor cell leukaemia or myelodysplasia,2 with the risk estimated to be about 12 per 10 000 HSCT.1

The imide compound thalidomide and its derivative lenalidomide are highly effective against multiple myeloma. Recently, patients receiving prolonged lenalidomide maintenance have been observed to develop secondary cancers including haematological malignancies.4, 5, 6 We describe the occurrence of donor cell leukaemia in two patients with multiple myeloma, who had undergone allogeneic HSCT, followed by prolonged thalidomide maintenance.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Jovic Tse, Department of Medicine, and Thomas Wan and Lap-Ping Chung, Department of Pathology, for technical assistance.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Medicine, Queen Mary Hospital, Hong Kong, China

    T S Y Chan, W-Y Au, K Lam, Y-F Lam, A Y H Leung, E Tse, A K W Lie & Y-L Kwong

  2. Department of Pathology, Queen Mary Hospital, Hong Kong, China

    C-C So

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  1. T S Y Chan
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  2. W-Y Au
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  8. A K W Lie
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  9. Y-L Kwong
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Correspondence to Y-L Kwong.

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Chan, T., Au, WY., Lam, K. et al. Donor cell leukaemia after allogeneic haematopoietic SCT followed by prolonged thalidomide maintenance for multiple myeloma. Bone Marrow Transplant 47, 612–615 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/bmt.2011.136

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