Allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation for nonmalignant hematologic disorders using chemotherapy-only cytoreductive regimens and T-cell-depleted grafts from human leukocyte antigen–matched or –mismatched donors

ABSTRACT

Nonmalignant hematologic disorders (NMHD) of childhood comprise a variety of disorders, including acquired severe aplastic anemia and inherited marrow failure syndromes. Patients with high-risk NMHD without matched related donors fare poorly with allogeneic hematopoietic alternative donor stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT) and are at high risk for developing graft-versus-host disease following unmodified grafts. The authors retrospectively analyzed data on 18 patients affected by NMHD, lacking a human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-identical sibling donor, who underwent an alternative donor allo-HSCT at their institution between April 2005 and May 2013. Fifty percent of the patients had received prior immunosuppressive therapy, 72% had a history of infections, and 56% were transfusion dependent at the time of transplant. Cytoreduction included a combination of 3 of 5 agents: fludarabine, melphalan, thiotepa, busulfan, and cyclophosphamide. Grafts were T-cell depleted. All evaluable patients engrafted. Five died of transplant complications. The cumulative incidence of graft-versus-host disease was 6%. No patient had recurrence of disease. Five-year overall survival was 77%. Age at transplant <6 years was strongly associated with better survival. Based on these results, transplant with chemotherapy-only cytoreductive regimens and T-cell-depleted stem cell transplants could be recommended for patients with high-risk NMHD, especially at a younger age.

KEYWORDS:

• Anemias
• bone marrow failure
• bone marrow transplant
• chemotherapy

Declaration of interest

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.

Acknowledgments

We acknowledge the expert care provided to patients by staff of the Department of Pediatrics at MSK. We thank Joseph Olechnowicz for editorial assistance.

Funding

This research was funded in part through the National Institutes of Health/National Cancer Center (NIH/NCI) Cancer Center Support Grant P30 CA008748. A.M. received a philanthropic support from Associazione Italiana Contro le Leucemie-Linfomi e Mieloma ONLUS