Faculty Collaboration Database

Younger Matched Unrelated Donors Confer Decreased Relapse Risk Compared to Older Sibling Donors in Older Patients with B Cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia Undergoing Allogeneic Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation. Transplant Cell Ther 2023 Oct;29(10):611-618

Date

07/23/2023

Pubmed ID

37481243

Pubmed Central ID

PMC10592336

DOI

10.1016/j.jtct.2023.07.015

Scopus ID

2-s2.0-85169822640 (requires institutional sign-in at Scopus site)   5 Citations

Abstract

Although allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (alloHCT) offers cure for older patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), disease relapse remains a major issue. Whether matched sibling donors (MSDs) are still the preferred donor choice compared to younger matched unrelated donors (MUDs) in the contemporary era of improved transplantation practices remains unknown. This retrospective cohort registry study queried the Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research (CIBMTR) database in patients with B cell ALL (B-ALL) age ≥ 50 years undergoing alloHCT from older MSDs (age ≥ 50 years) or younger MUDs (age ≤ 35 years) between 2011 and 2018. The study included common allograft types, conditioning regimens, and graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) prophylaxis strategies. The primary outcome was relapse risk, and secondary outcomes included nonrelapse mortality (NRM), GVHD, leukemia-free survival (LFS), and overall survival (OS). Among 925 eligible patients in the study cohort, 386 underwent alloHCT with an older MSD (median donor age, 58 years) and 539 underwent alloHCT from a younger MUD (median donor age, 25 year). In multivariable analysis, younger MUDs conferred a significantly decreased risk of relapse (hazard ratio [HR], .68; P = .002) compared with older MSDs. The adjusted cumulative incidence of relapse at 5 years was significantly lower with younger MUDs than with older MSDs (26% versus 37%; P = .001). Younger MUDs were associated with a greater risk of chronic GVHD compared to older MSDs (HR, 1.33; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.10 to 1.61; P = .003). Compared to older MSDs, younger MUDs conferred an increased NRM (HR, 1.38; P = .02) and higher adjusted cumulative incidence of NRM at 5 years (31% versus 22%; P = .006). There were no differences in post-alloHCT OS or LFS rates between younger MUDs and older MSDs (OS: HR, 1.09; [P = .37]; LFS: HR, .95 [P = .57]). The use of younger MUDs could be considered as a possible way to prevent relapse after alloHCT in older adults with ALL. Combining the use of younger MUDs with improved strategies to reduce GVHD merits further exploration to improve outcomes.

Author List

Abid MB, Estrada-Merly N, Zhang MJ, Chen K, Bredeson C, Allan D, Sabloff M, Marks DI, Litzow M, Hourigan C, Kebriaei P, Saber W

Author

Wael Saber MD, MS Professor in the Medicine department at Medical College of Wisconsin

MESH terms used to index this publication - Major topics in bold

Adult
Aged
Graft vs Host Disease
Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation
Humans
Middle Aged
Precursor B-Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma
Precursor Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma
Recurrence
Retrospective Studies
Siblings
Unrelated Donors