Impact of Early Chimerism Status on Clinical Outcome in Children with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia after Haematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation
Abstract Background: The significance of very early chimerism assessment before day +28, which is considered the moment of engraftment, is still unclear. In this retrospective study, we evaluated the clinical impact of very early chimerism on the clinical outcome after allogeneic haematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT) in children with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL). Methods: The study group included 38 boys and 18 girls. Very early chimerism was evaluated on days +7, +14, +21 and +28 after the transplant. Short tandem repeat polymerase chain reaction (STR PCR) was used to analyse chimerism. Results: Overall survival (OS) and event-free survival (EFS) were 84% and 80%, respectively. OS in the group of 24 patients with complete donor chimerism on day +14 was 83%, and it did not differ statistically compared to the 32 patients with mixed chimerism on day +14 (OS was 84%). The donor type (matched unrelated) and sex (male), number of transplanted cells (above 4.47 x 10 6 kg; on day +14) and serotherapy (without anti-thymocyte globulin)ATG were statistically related to a higher level of donor chimerism. Acute graft versus host disease grades II-IV was diagnosed in 23 patients who presented with donor chimerism levels above 60% on day 7. Conclusion: The data presented in this study provide valuable insight into the analysis of very early chimerism in children with ALL treated with HSCT.