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Effect of graft-versus-host disease on outcomes of HLA-haploidentical peripheral blood transplantation using post-transplant cyclophophamide

Abstract

There is limited evidence regarding the association between graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) and reduced relapse in patients who undergo allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation from haploidentical donors (haplo-HSCT) using post-transplant cyclophosphamide (PTCY). We investigated the association between GVHD and transplant outcomes in 938 patients who received haplo-HSCT using PTCY. Overall survival (OS), relapse rate, and non-relapse mortality (NRM) were evaluated using landmark analysis at the landmark points at 100 and 360 days after HSCT for acute and chronic GVHD, respectively. Grade I–II acute GVHD was not associated with OS (adjusted hazard ratio: 1.15, 95% confidence interval: 0.85–1.57), relapse (1.03, 0.74–1.45) and NRM (1.15, 0.74–1.77). Conversely, grade III–IV acute GVHD was associated with higher NRM (3.16, 1.61–6.19), but no other outcomes. Limited chronic GVHD was not associated with OS (1.11, 0.48–1.95), relapse (1.05, 0.30–3.75) and NRM (1.30, 0.45–3.79). Extensive chronic GVHD was associated with higher NRM (2.40, 1.03–5.57), but no other outcome. In conclusion, any GVHD was not associated with a reduced relapse rate and improved OS, and Grade III–IV acute GVHD and extensive chronic GVHD were associated with higher NRM in patients who received haplo-HSCT using PTCY.

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Fig. 1: Patient selection flowchart.
Fig. 2: Transplant outcomes in landmark analysis at 100 days after HSCT.
Fig. 3: Subgroup analysis for the effect of grade II acute GVHD.
Fig. 4: Transplant outcomes in landmark analysis at 360 days after HSCT.

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Data availability

The data of this study are not publicly available due to ethical restrictions that it exceeds the scope of the recipient/donor’s consent for research use in the registry. Data may be available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request and with permission of the JSTCT/JDCHCT.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank all the centers’ physicians and data managers who contributed to data collection on transplantation, the Japanese Data Center for Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation and the Transplant Registry Unified Management Program 2.

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YS designed the study, analysed the data, performed the statistical analysis and wrote the first draft of the manuscript. TK, SK and TS critically reviewed the data analysis and the manuscript. All other authors contributed to data collection. All authors approved the final version of the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Yoshimitsu Shimomura.

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Shimomura, Y., Komukai, S., Kitamura, T. et al. Effect of graft-versus-host disease on outcomes of HLA-haploidentical peripheral blood transplantation using post-transplant cyclophophamide. Bone Marrow Transplant 59, 66–75 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41409-023-02142-w

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