The efficacy and safety of rabbit anti-thymocyte globulin vs rabbit anti-T-lymphocyte globulin in peripheral blood stem cell transplantation from unrelated donors

Abstract

The comparative efficacy and safety of antithymocyte globulin (ATG) at fixed doses in patients undergoing allogeneic peripheral blood stem cell transplantation from unrelated donors (UR-PBSCT) has not been evaluated. In this study, the records of 56 patients and 54 patients who received pre-transplant ATG-Thymoglobulin (ATG-T) at a total dose of 10 mg/kg and ATG- Fresenius (ATG-F) at a total dose of 20 mg/kg, respectively, were retrospectively analyzed. ATG-F patients had a significantly lower probability of developing chronic graft-vs-host disease (cGVHD) than those treated with ATG-T (p = 0.04). ATG-F was associated with a non-significant trend towards lower relapse rates and higher survival at 3- and 5-years of follow-up compared with ATG-T. A significantly greater proportion of ATG-T patients experienced chills and high fever than ATG-F patients (p < 0.01). The current findings suggest that ATG-F may more effectively and safely prevent cGVHD without increasing relapse rates in patients undergoing UR-PBSCT.

Keywords::

• Unrelated donor
• peripheral blood stem cell transplantation
• ATG-Thymoglobulin
• ATG-Fresenius
• graft-vs-host disease

Acknowledgments

The authors thank all of the physicians, nurses and supporting personnel for their dedicated care of patients in this study. This study was supported by the capital health research and development of special (No.2011–5001-07).

Potential conflict of interest

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