scholarly journals CD34+ Selection and T-Cell Add-Back Ensures Engraftment and Overall Safety with Unrelated Donor Cryopreserved Stem Cell Grafts during the COVID-19 Pandemic

2021 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. S239-S240
Author(s):  
Randy M Windreich ◽  
Heather Stanczak ◽  
Jessie L Barnum ◽  
Paul Szabolcs
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
pp. 204062072110637
Author(s):  
Jeongmin Seo ◽  
Dong-Yeop Shin ◽  
Youngil Koh ◽  
Inho Kim ◽  
Sung-Soo Yoon ◽  
...  

Background: Allogeneic stem cell transplantation (alloSCT) offers cure chance for various hematologic malignancies, but graft- versus-host disease (GVHD) remains a major impediment. Anti-thymocyte globulin (ATG) is used for prophylactic T-cell depletion and GVHD prevention, but there are no clear guidelines for the optimal dosing of ATG. It is suspected that for patients with low absolute lymphocyte counts (ALCs), current weight-based dosing of ATG can be excessive, which can result in profound T-cell depletion and poor transplant outcome. Methods: The objective of the study is to evaluate the association of low preconditioning ALC with outcomes in patients undergoing matched unrelated donor (MUD) alloSCT with reduced-intensity conditioning (RIC) and ATG. We conducted a single-center retrospective longitudinal cohort study of acute leukemia and myelodysplastic syndrome patients over 18 years old undergoing alloSCT. In total, 64 patients were included and dichotomized into lower ALC and higher ALC groups with the cutoff of 500/μl on D-7. Results: Patients with preconditioning ALC <500/μl were associated with shorter overall survival (OS) and higher infectious mortality. The incidence of acute GVHD and moderate-severe chronic GVHD as well as relapse rates did not differ according to preconditioning ALC. In multivariate analyses, low preconditioning ALC was recognized as an independent adverse prognostic factor for OS. Conclusion: Patients with lower ALC are exposed to excessive dose of ATG, leading to profound T-cell depletion that results in higher infectious mortality and shorter OS. Our results call for the implementation of more creative dosing regimens for patients with low preconditioning ALC.


2011 ◽  
Vol 2011 ◽  
pp. 1-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Salem Alshemmari ◽  
Reem Ameen ◽  
Javid Gaziev

Haploidentical hematopoietic stem-cell transplantation is an alternative transplant strategy for patients without an HLA-matched donor. Still, only half of patients who might benefit from transplantation are able to find an HLA-matched related or unrelated donor. Haploidentical donor is readily available for many patients in need of immediate stem-cell transplantation. Historical experience with haploidentical stem-cell transplantation has been characterised by a high rejection rate, graft-versus-host disease, and transplant-related mortality. Important advances have been made in this field during the last 20 years. Many drawbacks of haploidentical transplants such as graft failure and significant GVHD have been overcome due to the development of new extensive T cell depletion methods with mega dose stem-cell administration. However, prolonged immune deficiency and an increased relapse rate remain unresolved problems of T cell depletion. New approaches such as partial ex vivo or in vivo alloreactive T cell depletion and posttransplant cell therapy will allow to improve immune reconstitution in haploidentical transplants. Results of unmanipulated stem-cell transplantation with using ATG and combined immunosuppression in mismatched/haploidentical transplant setting are promising. This paper focuses on recent advances in haploidentical hematopoietic stem-cell transplantation for hematologic malignancies.


Blood ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 106 (11) ◽  
pp. 1817-1817
Author(s):  
Yves Chalandon ◽  
Christoph Schmid ◽  
Kimmo Porkka ◽  
Alvaro Urbano-Ispizua ◽  
Bernd Hertenstein ◽  
...  

Abstract Using data submitted to the EBMT registry, we analyzed outcome on 344 patients (pts) who had received donor lymphocyte infusions (DLI) for relapse after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) for chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) in 31 centers. 113/344 pts (33%) developed acute graft-versus-host disease (aGVHD) a median of 50 days post DLI (max grade: I=42, II=30, III=31, IV=6)(60% grade II–IV). Organs involved (%): skin (88), liver (42), gut (30). Median age was 38 (4–59), 58% pts were male, 62 transplants were HLA-identical sibling and 51 unrelated. 74 were T-cell depleted, 92 transplanted in CP1, 21 beyond CP1. Relapse was molecular in 19 pts, cytogenetic in 31, hematological in 49, accelerated or blastic in 12. Median initial cell dose was 107CD3+ cells/kg (0.01–32), median number of DLI was 1 (1–10). aGvHD was treated with prednisone in 92% of pts, CSA in 52 %, ATG and monoclonal antibodies in 2% and other in 19%. aGVHD resolved in 53% of the pts within a median of 63 d (7–546). 82/344 pts (24%) had chronic GVHD (cGVHD)(30 limited, 50 extensive, 2 not specified), of those 46 (56%) following aGVHD post DLI. Organs involved (%): skin (75), liver (35), lungs (13), mouth (43), eyes (22) and gut (5). Median age was 35 (6–58), 51% were male, stem cell source was PB in 15% and marrow in 85%, 43 underwent HLA-identical sibling HSCT and 39 unrelated donor HSCT. Forty-three were T-cell depleted, 66 transplanted in CP1, 16 beyond CP1. Relapse was molecular in 21 pts, cytogenetic in 29, hematological in 22, accelerated or blastic in 7. Median initial cell dose was 107 CD3+ cells/kg (0.05–40), median number of DLI was 1 (1–7). 61 pts are alive with a median follow-up of 50 mth. Treatment was with steroids in 83% of pts, CSA in 58 %, MMF in 20%, thalidomide in 15%, photopheresis in 15%, PUVA in 10% and other in 17%. cGVHD resolved in 39% of the pts within a median of 354 d (44–1588). The estimated 5-y OS post-DLI was significantly lower in pts who developed aGVHD post-DLI, 61 ± 10% vs 74 ± 7% in the one that did not, p=0.007 and also a tendency to have a lower 5-y EFS, 58 ± 10% vs 65 ± 7%, p=0.19. Median duration of response to DLI in aGVHD pts was 4 y. aGVHD post-DLI did not influence the relapse rate (5 ± 5% vs 6 ± 5% in the absence of aGVHD). 5-y DLI related mortality was significantly higher in aGVHD pts, 31 ± 8% vs 4 ± 4%, p<0.00001. On the other hand, pts that developed cGVHD post-DLI had a tendency to have a better 5-y OS and EFS, 74 ± 11% and 71 ± 11% respectively vs 69 ± 6% and 62 ± 7% in those that did not, p=0.32 and 0.09. This was related to a tendency to lower incidence of relapse, 2 ± 3% in pts with cGVHD vs 9 ± 6% without, p=0.2. DLI related mortality was not different, 11 ± 8% vs 10 ± 5%, p=0.77. aGVHD post-DLI for CML relapse is mainly of advanced stage and negatively influence OS and EFS with a higher DLI related mortality. cGVHD post-DLI is mainly extensive, but pts with cGHVD tend to have better outcome with better 5-y OS, EFS and less relapse than those without, although this was not statistically significant.


Blood ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 106 (11) ◽  
pp. 1135-1135
Author(s):  
Partow Kebriaei ◽  
Rima M. Saliba ◽  
Carrie Ma ◽  
Cindy Ippoliti ◽  
Daniel R. Couriel ◽  
...  

Abstract Alemtuzumab is an effective agent in the treatment of various B- and T-cell malignancies that express CD52. Patients with advanced or refractory ALL have poor outcome after allogeneic stem cell transplantation (SCT). We investigated whether the addition of alemtuzumab to a standard myeloablative conditioning regimen would have any additional therapeutic effect and improve outcome after SCT in CD52+ ALL. Patients and Methods: Patients were eligible if their disease expressed CD52 in &gt;20% blasts by flow cytometry. The conditioning regimen consisted of cyclophosphamide (Cy, 60 mg/kg daily x 2 doses) and total body irradiation (TBI, 12 Gy in four daily fractions). Alemtuzumab at 10 mg was intravenously administered daily on days -6 to -2 prior to day of stem cell infusion. Patients received additional graft versus host disease (GVHD) prophylaxis with tacrolimus and methotrexate. Results: Fifteen patients (9 M/6 F) with median age 33 years (range 22–57) were studied. Twelve patients had B-lineage and 3 had T-lineage disease. Cytogenetic data were available for 12 patients; all had high-risk cytogenetics, including 5 with Ph+ disease. The median number of prior chemotherapy regimens was 3 (range 1–6). At time of study entry, 3 patients were in CR1, 3 were in ≥ CR1, and 9 were in primary or refractory relapse. Five patients received a matched related donor transplant and 10 received an unrelated donor graft. The source of stem cells was bone marrow (n=7) or peripheral blood (n=8). The median CD34+ cell dose infused was 4.67 x 106/kg (range 1.85–6.43). Median time to ANC ≥ 0.5 x 109/L was 15 days (range 11–20). Median time to platelet count ≥ 20 x 109/L was 19 days (range 13–34). The cumulative incidence of non-relapse mortality at 2 years was 13% (95% CI, 4%–43%). The incidence of grade II-IV acute GVHD was 7% (95% CI, 1%–38%); no grade III/IV acute GVHD was observed. The incidence of chronic extensive GVHD was 20%. Overall survival at 2 years was 16% (95% CI, 3%–40%). Failure was related mainly to progression; thirteen of 15 patients had disease progression at a median time of 4 months (range 1–22). Conclusion: These data suggest that alemtuzumab can be safely added to the standard transplant conditioning regimen for ALL without delayed engraftment or increased regimen-related toxicity. However, any potential direct antileukemia effect in CD52+ ALL patients with advanced disease appears to be negated by in-vivo T-cell depletion of the donor graft. Strategies to restore the graft-versus-leukemia effect in this setting are needed.


Blood ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 122 (21) ◽  
pp. 2071-2071 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Jared Kobulnicky ◽  
Roy T Sabo ◽  
Allison F Scalora ◽  
David Portier ◽  
Devon Fletcher ◽  
...  

Abstract Anti-thymocyte globulin (ATG) is widely used for in vivo T cell depletion and immunomodulation in unrelated donor (URD) stem cell transplantation (SCT) to reduce the risk of graft vs. host disease (GVHD). However, despite the reduction in GVHD risk, outcomes are generally not superior to matched related donor (MRD) SCT conditioned without ATG. This is primarily because of defective immune reconstitution and high rates of opportunistic infections in ATG recipients. We have previously reported equivalent outcomes in URD SCT recipients conditioned with ATG when compared to MRD recipients. We now report immune reconstitution in an expanded cohort of these patients. Patients with AML, ALL, MDS, MPD (n=142) transplanted between 2004 and 2011 were included in this retrospective review. Seventy eight received either bone marrow or peripheral blood stem cell (PBSC) grafts from URD and received either 10 or 7.5 mg/kg rabbit ATG (Thymoglobulin, Sanofi-Aventis) during conditioning, those with MRD did not. Conditioning was myeloablative in all patients. Lymphoid recovery was equivalent in the two cohorts during the first year following SCT except in the first month (Figure), when URD recipients had lower absolute lymphocyte count (μ-URD=0.6x103/ μ L, μ-MRD=1.1; repeated measures mixed model p=0.022). Age, CD3/34 cell dose infused, stem cell source and conditioning intensity were not associated with ALC recovery post transplant. In a subset of patients lymphocyte subset enumeration was performed following withdrawal of immunosuppression, at an average 237 days post-SCT. ATG recipients had significantly lower mean CD4+ counts (μ-URD=267 (n=30), μ-MRD =434/ μ L (n=27); ANCOVA p = 0.003), however no significant differences were observed in CD3+, CD8+, CD19+ or CD56+ cell recovery. ATG recipients were significantly more likely to have complete donor T cell chimerism at 1 (OR = 12.5, CI= 2.4, 66.0, p = 0.001) and 2 months post-SCT (OR = 6.5 , CI=1.5, 27.4, p = 0.013), however by 9 months following SCT this trend had reversed with a greater likelihood of mixed T cell chimerism (OR > 100; p = 0.017), suggesting re-emergence of recipient derived T cell clones. Consequently, donor lymphocyte infusions were given significantly more often to ATG recipients (12/78) than to non-recipients (2/64) (OR = 5.64, CI = 1.21, 26.20, p=0.027). High grade CMV viremia (1000 copies/ μL) was significantly more likely in CMV sero-positive ATG recipients (n=18/55) than in non-recipients (n=7/48) (OR = 2.8, CI 1.1, 7.6, p = 0.032). Reduced intensity conditioning and PBSC were associated with higher CMV reactivation in ATG recipients and there was a lower likelihood of survival in these individuals than in those who did not receive ATG (HR: 0.53, CI: 0.31, 0.92; p = 0.024). EBV reactivation was observed more often in susceptible ATG recipients (n=22/58) than in non-recipients (n=5/43), (OR=4.6, CI=1.6, 13.6, p= 0.003). The median peak EBV viral load in ATG recipients (u=1545 copies/ μL, IQR: 288, 2,302) was significantly higher than in non-recipients (u=120 IQR: 57, 169, p = 0.005). PBSC stem cell source (p = 0.049) and HLA mismatch (p =< 0.001) were associated with EBV reactivation in ATG recipients but not in non-recipients. ATG recipients were also more likely to experience a fungal infection (OR=2.8, CI=1.1, 6.7, p=0.023). 1-month ALC was predictive of disease free survival whereby it had a significant negative effect on relapse (HR = 0.33; 95% CI: 0.16, 0.66; p = 0.002). As 1-month ALC increased by one-tenth, the odds of relapse decreased by over 3% and survival increased by 3%. In conclusion, high doses of ATG used during conditioning are associated with an early retardation of lymphoid recovery post-SCT, and with late mixed T cell chimerism accompanied by a delay in CD4+ T cell recovery. This is associated with a higher rate of viral reactivation in PBSC recipients and of fungal infections in general. Lower doses of ATG should be used in SCT and in ATG conditioned SCT, early intervention with DLI, particularly CD8+ cell depleted DLI as reported by others, may help restore T cell repertoire and improve SCT outcomes and survival. Disclosures: Toor: Sanofi Avnetis: Research Funding.


Blood ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 124 (21) ◽  
pp. 3911-3911
Author(s):  
Racquel Innis-Shelton ◽  
Donna Salzman ◽  
Antonio Di Stasi ◽  
Lawrence S. Lamb ◽  
Melissa Gazi ◽  
...  

Abstract BACKGROUND Graft versus host disease (GVHD) remains a major complication after allogeneic peripheral blood stem cell transplantation (PBSCT). Post-transplant cyclophosphamide (CY) has been shown to mitigate risk of GVHD after T-cell replete HLA haploidentical (haplo) bone marrow transplantation. We sought to identify the benefit of post-transplant CY in various diseases following myeloablative PBSCT. METHODS We treated 71 patients with post-transplant CY following allogeneic PBSC (T-cell replete) HLA matched unrelated donor (MUD), HLA mismatched unrelated donor (mMUD), haplo, and HLA matched related donor (MRD) transplant. The conditioning regimens were fludarabine (160 mg/m2)/busulfan (AUC 12-20,000) (+/- TBI 4 Gy for haplo) for myeloid malignancies, fludarabine (160 mg/m2)/TBI 10 Gy (or 8 Gy for haplo) or CY/TBI 12 Gy for lymphoid malignancies (total CY dose 120 mg/m2 including post-transplant CY). GVHD prophylaxis consisted of post-transplant CY 50 mg/m2 on day +3 (and day +4 for haplo), tacrolimus, day +5 to +100 (then taper over 3 months) and mycophenolate mofetil, day +5 to day +35. All patients received G-CSF (5 mcg/kg/day) starting day +5 until neutrophil engraftment. All patients received prophylactic antifungal (until day +75), antiviral (for one year), PCP prophylaxis (day +30 to +180) and antibacterial therapy (until day +100) or longer if on high-dose steroid. RESULTS The 71 patients were treated between July 2012 and July 2014 at our institution. The donors were MUD, mMUD, haplo, or MRD (N = 46, 11, 13, 1 respectively). Patients had acute myeloid leukemia (n = 31 either in first or subsequent remission) including one patient with blastic plasmacytoid dendritic cell neoplasm, myelodysplastic syndrome (n = 13), acute lymphoblastic leukemia (n = 5, all in CR1 or 2), non-Hodgkin lymphoma (n = 5), Hodgkin lymphoma (n = 3), primary myelofibrosis (n = 6), chronic myeloid leukemia (n = 4), chronic lymphoid leukemia (n = 1), severe aplastic anemia (n = 2), and erythropoietic porphyria (n = 1). The median age of patients was 50 years (range: 17-72), 36 were males and 62 were Caucasians. Five patients had prior autologous transplant. All patients engrafted except one halpo patient who was successfully re-transplanted with repeat haplo (different donor) using non-myeloablative regimen (FLU/CY/TBI 4 Gy). Neutrophil and platelet engraftment occurred after a median of 12 days (range: 6-18) and 13 days (range: 5-40). The cumulative incidence of acute GVHD grade II-IV and III-IV was 16% and 8% respectively. The cumulative incidence of chronic GVHD was 54% (mild, moderate and severe; 22%, 24% and 8%). The overall cumulative relapse rate was 20%, however, 65% of AML patients relapsed after MUD transplant (n = 23) while none of them relapsed after mMUD or haplo transplant (n = 8). The overall non-relapse mortality (NRM) was 14% (total of 10 patients died as follows: GVHD; 2, infections; 4, hepatic failure; 1, toxic epidermal necrolysis; 1, pulmonary embolism; 1, lung injury; 1). The 1-year overall survival was 68% (95% CI: 54-79) (figure 1) and the 1-year disease-free survival (DFS) was 58% (95% CI: 43-71) (figure 2). CONCLUSION The use of post-transplant CY following myeloablative (using disease-specific preparative regimens) T-cell replete PBSCT of HLA-matched/mismatched unrelated and haploidentical donors is feasible with acceptable risk of acute and chronic GVHD, and NRM. The use of one dose of post-transplant CY after MUD transplant was associated with high risk of relapse in AML patients. Caution is to be exercised in designing clinical trials of MUD transplant for AML using post-transplant CY. DISCLOSURES: See Conflict of Interest (COI) Disclosure statements submitted by all authors Figure 1A: OS of the whole cohort (n = 71) Figure 1A:. OS of the whole cohort (n = 71) Figure 1B: OS of the Haplo transplant cohort (n = 13) Figure 1B:. OS of the Haplo transplant cohort (n = 13) Figure 2 DFS of the whole cohort (n = 71) Figure 2. DFS of the whole cohort (n = 71) Disclosures Off Label Use: Cyclophosphamide used after stem cell transplant for graft vs host disease prophylaxis in haploidentical, matched and mismatched unrelated donor T cell replete myeloablative transplants..


Blood ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 124 (21) ◽  
pp. 5889-5889 ◽  
Author(s):  
Audrey Simon ◽  
Eddy Roosnek ◽  
Yordanka Tirefort ◽  
Yan Beauverd ◽  
Carole Dantin ◽  
...  

Abstract Introduction: To decrease graft versus host disease (GvHD), the Geneva transplantation team has performed allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell (alloHSCT) with reduced intensity conditioning (RIC) and T cell depletion (TCD) to treat hematological malignancies for older or non fit for myeloablative conditioning patients. This is a new approach of engineering stem cell products that lowers the risk of GvHD while preserving graft versus leukemia (GvL) as much as possible. Patient and methods: We report a retrospective study of 73 patients who received alloHSCT with RIC and TCD between 2001-2013. The median age was 59 years (21-70), 60% were male. Disease at transplant time was acute leukaemia for 45%, Hodgkin lymphoma and non-Hodgkin lymphoma for 24%, myelodysplastic disorders for 13%, myeloproliferative disorders for 9,3 % and multiple myeloma for 8%. Source of stem cell was peripheral in 96% of the cases. 41% of the donors were matched related donor, 37% matched unrelated donor, 19% mismatched unrelated donor and 3% mistmatched related donor. The conditioning regimen consisted on fludarabine with busulfan or melphalan and ATG. Extensive T-cell depletion was done using Campath in the bag followed by washing procedures to remove free antibody. Fixed number of CD3+ T-cell addback was given on d+1 to preserve GvL with minimal residual disease (MRD) assessment and early donor lymphocyte infusions (DLI) given if MRD positive. Doses of DLI were preserved and frozen at the time of stem cell harvest. GvHD prophylaxis was with ciclosporine and mycophenolate mofetil. Results: With a median follow up of 5 (0.5-11) years, the 5-year overall survival (OS), disease free survival (DFS), current disease free survival, relapse rate and non relapse mortality (NRM) were 41.7% (95%CI 30.7-53.7%), 38.8% (95%CI 28.8-50.8%), 39,5% (95%CI 27.7-51.7%), 45.3% (95%CI 32.7-57.2%) and 15.8% (95%CI 8.3-25.4%) respectively. The main cause of death was relapse 38.7 % followed by GvHD 17% and infection 1.3%. In this cohort, the cumulative incidence (CI) of acute GvHD was 15.1% (95% CI: 8.0-24.3%) as well as for acute GvHD grade II-IV. CI of chronic GvHD was 14.7% (95%CI:7.2-23.6%) with extensive chronic GvHD CI being 5.9% (95% CI: 1.9-13.4%). Five patients received DLI for relapses, 27 for mixed chimerism and 8 for both causes. The average number of DLI was 2. Twenty-eight patients entered CR, 4 PR and 13 did not respond to DLI. In univariate analysis, two factors GvHD before DLI and GvHD after first DLI have a tendency for favorable impact on OS respectively p=0.093 and 0.071. For DFS, two factors are significant: disease risk index and GvHD after first DLI respectively p=0.013 and 0.044. For NRM disease risk index is the only factor which is statistically significant p=0.005. For relapse no factors were significant. Discussion: Our study showed a lower rate of acute and chronic GvHD as compared to other studies with unmanipulated stem cells. However, we describe a high rate of relapse incidence and relapse mortality. We have found in univariate analysis two factors statistically significant for DFS GvHD before and after first DLI. Our cohort is a heterogeneous group with different diseases at different stages, which can explain those results. It’s a monocentric study and small number of patient can be a limit for this work. Of note, since 2009 we have changed our strategy introducing a day +100 preemptive DLI infusion in the absence of GvHD, with escalading doses of lymphocytes every 8 weeks up to 5x 107 CD3/kg in the absence of GvHD to improve response. We don’t have enough patients and follow up to draw any conclusion regarding this new strategy. To improve the outcomes, the selection of patients who may receive partial T-cell depletion should be refined, avoiding transplanting patients with high risk of relapse with this strategy. To help decision making, the revised disease risk index as presented by Armand et al. (Blood 2014;123:3664) may be useful. Disclosures No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.


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