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Comparative study of treosulfan plus Fludarabine (FT14) with busulfan plus Fludarabine (FB4) for acute myeloid leukemia in first or second complete remission: An analysis from the European Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation (EBMT) Acute Leukemia Working Party (ALWP)

Abstract

Different doses of treosulfan plus fludarabine have shown advantage over reduced intensity regimens. However, data comparing higher doses of treosulfan to myeloablative busulfan are limited. Thus, we compared outcomes between FT14 (fludarabine 150/160 mg/m2 and treosulfan 42 g/m2, or FT14) over FB4 (fludarabine 150/160 mg/m2 and busulfan 12.8 mg/kg). We retrospectively studied patients from European Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation registry: a) adults diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia (AML), b) recipients of first allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) from unrelated or sibling donor (2010–2020), c) HSCT at first or second complete remission, d) conditioning with FT14 or FB4. FT14 recipients (n = 678) were older, with higher rates of secondary AML, unrelated donors, peripheral blood grafts, and adverse cytogenetics, but lower percentage of female donor to male recipient compared to FB4 (n = 2025). Analysis was stratified on age. In patients aged < 55 years, FT14 was associated with higher relapse incidence (RI) and lower Leukemia-Free Survival (LFS). In patients aged≥55 years, acute GVHD CI was higher in FB4, without significant differences in other outcomes. Although FT14 has been used for higher-risk HSCT patients, our large real-world multicenter study suggests that FB4 is associated with better outcomes compared to FT14 in younger patients.

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Fig. 1: Outcomes in patients younger than 55 years.
Fig. 2: Outcomes in patients 55 years or older.

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Data are available upon request from the corresponding author.

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Acknowledgements

EG is supported by the ASH Global Research Award.

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EG and IS designed research and wrote the original draft, provided clinical data; ML participated in research design, performed statistical analysis, and drafted the Tables and Figures; US, IYA, VP, AB, AR, IH, NK, SM, TZ, JS, AB, HO provided clinical data and edited the manuscript; AA, BS, SG, AB, AS, AN, and MM participated in research design and edited the manuscript. All authors approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Eleni Gavriilaki.

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Gavriilaki, E., Labopin, M., Sakellari, I. et al. Comparative study of treosulfan plus Fludarabine (FT14) with busulfan plus Fludarabine (FB4) for acute myeloid leukemia in first or second complete remission: An analysis from the European Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation (EBMT) Acute Leukemia Working Party (ALWP). Bone Marrow Transplant 57, 1803–1809 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41409-022-01830-3

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