Melphalan at a dose of 200 mg/m2 is standard conditioning prior to autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation for multiple myeloma, but a dose of 140 mg/m2 is often used in clinical practice in patients perceived to be at risk of excess toxicity. To determine whether melphalan 200 mg/m2 and melphalan 140 mg/m2 are equally effective and tolerable in clinically relevant patient subgroups we analyzed 1964 first single autologous transplantation episodes using a series of Cox proportional-hazards models. Overall survival, progression-free survival, cumulative incidence of relapse, non-relapse mortality, hematopoietic recovery and second primary malignancy rates were not significantly different between the melphalan 140 mg/m2 (n=245) and melphalan 200 mg/m2 (n=1719) groups. Multivariable subgroup analysis showed that disease status at transplantation interacted with overall survival, progression-free survival, and cumulative incidence of relapse, with a significant advantage associated with melphalan 200 mg/m2 in patients transplanted in less than partial response (adjusted hazard ratios for melphalan 200 mg/m2 versus melphalan 140 mg/m2: 0.5, 0.54, and 0.56). In contrast, transplantation in very good partial or complete response significantly favored melphalan 140 mg/m2 for overall survival (adjusted hazard ratio: 2.02). Age, renal function, prior proteasome inhibitor treatment, gender, or Karnofsky score did not interact with overall/progression-free survival or relapse rate in the melphalan dose groups. There were no significant survival or relapse rate differences between melphalan 200 mg/m2 and melphalan 140 mg/m2 patients with high-risk or standard-risk chromosomal abnormalities. In conclusion, remission status at the time of transplantation may favor the use of melphalan 200 mg/m2 or melphalan 140 mg/m2 for key transplant outcomes (NCT01362972).

T his follow-up study of a randomized, prospective trial included 192 patients with newly diagnosed severe aplastic anemia receiving antithymoglobulin and cyclosporine, with or without granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF). We aimed to evaluate the long-term effect of G-CSF on overall survival, event-free survival, probability of secondary myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) or acute myeloid leukemia (AML), clinical paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria, relapse, avascular osteonecrosis and chronic kidney disease. The median follow-up was 11.7 years (95% CI, 10.9-12.5). The overall survival rate at 15 years was 57±12% in the group given G-CSF and 63±12% in the group not given G-CSF (P=0.92); the corresponding event-free survival rates were 24±10% and 23±10%, respectively (P=0.36). In total, 9 patients developed MDS or AML, 10 only a clonal cytogenetic abnormality, 7 a solid cancer, 18 clinical paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria, 8 osteonecrosis, and 12 chronic kidney disease, without any difference between patients treated with or without G-CSF. The cumulative incidence of MDS, AML or isolated cytogenetic abnormality at 15 years was 8.5±3% for the G-CSF group and 8.2±3% for the non-G-CSF group (P=0.90). The cumulative incidence of any late event including myelodysplastic syndrome or acute myeloid leukemia, isolated cytogenetic abnormalities, solid cancer, clinical paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria, aseptic osteonecrosis, chronic kidney disease and relapse was 50±12% for the G-CSF group and 49±12% for the non-G-CSF group (P=0.65). Our results demonstrate that it is unlikely

Eltrombopag (ELT), an oral thrombopoietin receptor agonist, has recently emerged as a promising new drug for the treatment of aplastic anemia (AA). How ELT is used outside of clinical trials in the real-world setting and results of this treatment are not known. We conducted therefore a retrospective survey on the use of ELT in AA among EBMT member centers. We analyzed the 134 patients reported in our survey together with 46 patients recently published by Lengline et al. The median follow-up from start of ELT treatment was 15.3 months, with 85.6% patients alive at last follow-up. Importantly, only 28.9% of our patients received ELT according to the FDA/EMA label as monotherapy in the relapsed/refractory setting, whereas 16.7% received ELT upfront. The overall response rate in our cohort was 62%, very similar to the results of the pivotal ELT trial. In multivariate analysis, combination therapy with ELT/cyclosporine/ATG and response to previous therapy were associated with response. Overall survival was favorable with a 1-year survival from ELT start of 87.4%. We identified age, AA severity before ELT start and response to ELT as variables significantly associated with OS. Two patients transformed to MDS; other adverse events were mostly benign. In sum, ELT is used widely in Europe to treat AA patients, mostly in the relapsed/refractory setting. Response to

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Introduction and Aim: HLA-haploidentical hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (haplo-HSCT) is increasingly offered to patients with high-risk acute myeloid (AML) or lymphoid leukemia (ALL). Unfortunately, graft manipulation employed to overcome the HLA barrier significantly delays immune reconstitution, posing the patients at risk of infections. Accordingly, non-relapse mortality after haplo-HSCT clearly extends beyond day 100 post-transplant. Over the years, different approaches have been investigated to speed-up immune reconstitution. In the absence of validated immune biomarkers, it is however difficult to evaluate the clinical impact of accelerated immune reconstitution. The aim of this EBMT retrospective study is to explore immune-cell counts early after haplo-HSCT as predictive of its overall outcome. Methods and Patients: Among AML and ALL patients in the EBMT database who underwent haplo-HSCT in the period 2001-2012, criteria for study entry were survival beyond day 100 and availability of differential immune-cell counts (CD3+, CD4+, CD8+ T cells, CD19+ B cells, CD16+/CD56+ NK cells) within this period. Accordingly, statistical analysis was landmarked at day 100. Of 259 patients meeting these criteria (age 2-70, median 33), 67 (26%) were children. The underlying disease was AML in 162 cases (63%), while ALL in the remaining (including 5 cases of bi-phenotypic leukemia). Fifty-two percent of patients were transplanted in CR1. The stem-cell source was G-CSF mobilized peripheral blood in all but one patient (>99%) and 171 received TBI (66%). The graft was manipulated in 199 patients (78%), including CD34-selection (50%), ex vivo T-cell depletion (15%) or both (13%). Female-to-male transplants were 68 (26%), while 204 (79%) recipients were CMV seropositive. Sustained hematopoietic engraftment was reached in 246 patients (95%) Results: The estimated overall survival at 2yrs was43%. The estimated cumulative incidence of death due to relapse was 33%, while that of death due to other causes was 35% (51% of those were infections) The occurrence of grade III-IV GVHD and of chronic GVHD was 9% and 18% (7% extensive), respectively. As expected, overall survival was better in children (62% vs 36%, P=0.002 by Log-rank), who clearly had a lower incidence of death due to causes other than relapse compared with adults (10% vs 37%, P=0.0001). Negative prognostic factors for overall survival were any disease state other than CR1 at time of transplantation (P=0.002) and CMV seropositivity (P=0.009). Type of leukemia, TBI or graft manipulation had no effect on the outcome. By day 100 post-transplant, patients reached the following median immune-cell counts: 100 CD3+ T cells (range 0-2576), 30 CD4+ T cells (0-1714), 48 CD8+ T cells (0-1880), 276 CD16+/CD56+ NK cells (18-3581), 21 CD19+ B cells (0-790). Importantly, CD3+ counts above the first quartile (1Q) of the entire data set (29 cells per microL) were significantly associated with a better overall survival (P=0.0005 by Log rank) and a lower incidence of death due to causes other than relapse (P=0.002 by Gray test). The same held true for CD8+ counts (1Q: 15 cells per microL; P=0.003 on overall survival; P=0.0004 on death due to other causes). CD4+ counts also showed similar correlations, but at higher values (above the median). None of the other immune-cell counts analyzed correlated with clinical outcome. Strikingly, when challenged in multivariate analysis taking into account age category, CMV seropositivity, graft manipulation and CR1 status at transplant, CD3+ and CD8+ counts above the 1Q adjusted to fit optimal cut-off points were still significantly associated with a better overall survival (P=0.006 and P=0.015, respectively), but only CD8+ values associated with a lesser risk of death due to causes other than relapse (P=0.026). Conversely, similarly adjusted median CD4+ counts failed to show any association. Conclusions: Contrary to what is generally accepted, these results indicate that an accelerated CD8+, but not CD4+, T cell reconstitution associates with a more favorable clinical outcome after haplo-HSCT, likely due to its protective role against opportunistic viral infections. Moreover, they suggest that yet to be validated CD8+ cut-off points, rather than the commonly used arbitrary value of 200 CD4+ T cells per microL, should be considered as surrogate biomarkers in clinical trials. Disclosures Bonini: MolMed S.p.A: Consultancy.