We describe the toxicity and efficacy of donor lymphocyte infusions (DLIs) given to 81 patients (median age, 50 years) after reduced-intensity conditioning (RIC) transplantations performed at 16 centers in the United Kingdom. The diseases treated included non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL; n ؍ 29), chronic myeloid leukemia (CML; n ؍ 12), myeloma (n ؍ 11), acute myeloid leukemia (AML; n ؍ 10), and chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL; n ؍ 9).
Disease relapse following an allogeneic transplant remains a major cause of treatment failure, often with a poor outcome. Second allogeneic transplant procedures have been associated with high TRM, especially with myeloablative conditioning. We hypothesized that the use of reduced-intensity conditioning (RIC) would decrease the TRM. We performed a retrospective national multicentre analysis of 71 patients receiving a second allogeneic transplant using RIC after disease relapse following an initial allogeneic transplant. The majority of patients had leukaemia/myelodysplasia (MDS) (N ¼ 57), nine had lymphoproliferative disorders, two had myeloma and three had myeloproliferative diseases. A total of 25% of patients had unrelated donors. The median follow-up was 906 days from the second allograft. The predicted overall survival (OS) and TRM at 2 years were 28 and 27%, respectively. TRM was significantly lower in those who relapsed late (411 months) following the first transplant (2 years: 17 vs 38% in early relapses; P ¼ 0.03). Two factors were significantly associated with a better survival: late relapse (P ¼ 0.014) and chronic GVHD following the second transplant (P ¼ 0.014). These data support our hypothesis that the second RIC allograft results in a lower TRM than using MA. A proportion of patients achieved a sustained remission even when relapsing after a previous MA transplant.
Peripheral T-cell lymphomas (PTCL) are a rare and heterogeneous subset of lymphomas with a poorer prognosis compared with B-cell lymphomas. We conducted a retrospective study of 82 patients who received high-dose therapy for PTCL (autologous SCT (ASCT) N ¼ 64; allogeneic SCT (Allo-SCT) N ¼ 18). With a median follow-up from ASCT of 37 months from transplant, 33 patients were alive; 20 died of progressive disease, 10 died from non-relapse mortality (NRM) with 1 unknown cause. Three-year overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) were 53% (95% confidence interval (CI) 42, 67) and 50% (95% CI 39, 64), respectively. Factors significantly affecting OS and PFS on univariate analysis were histological subtype and chemotherapy sensitivity. In a multivariate analysis, the only factor with significant impact was chemotherapy sensitivity. After a median follow-up from Allo-SCT of 57 months, five patients were alive; five died of progressive disease and eight died from NRM. The 3-year OS and PFS were 39% (95% CI 22, 69) and 33% (95% CI 17, 64), respectively, and the 3-year relapse rate was 28% (95% CI 6, 50). These results demonstrate that high-dose chemotherapy with autologous stem cell rescue has a substantial role in the management of T-cell lymphoma. The use of full-intensity allogeneic transplantation is limited by high transplant-related mortality, and exploration of reduced intensity regimens is warranted.
Summary Studies in animal models of mouse mammary carcinoma have shown that ovine submaxillary mucin, which carries multiple sialyl-Tn (STn) epitopes, is effective in stimulating an immune response and inhibiting tumour growth. In similar studies using carbohydrate antigens, pretreatment with low-dose cyclophosphamide has been shown to be important in modulating the immune response to antigen possibly by inhibiting suppresser T-cell activity. In a clinical trial assessing the efficacy and toxicity of synthetic STn, patients with metastatic breast cancer were randomised to receive 100 ug STn linked to keyhole limpet haemocyanin (KLH) with DETOX-B adjuvant given by subcutaneous injection at weeks 0, 2, 5 and 9 with or without low-dose cyclophosphamide (CTX, 300 mg m2) pretreatment, 3 days before the start of immunotherapy. Patients with responding or stable disease after the first four injections were eligible to receive STn-KLH at 4 week intervals. The main toxicity noted was the development of subcutaneous granulomata at injection sites. Of 23 patients randomised, 18 received four injections, 5 patients having developed progressive disease during the initial 12 week period. Two minor responses were noted in the 18 patients who received four active specific immunotherapy (ASI) injections and a further five patients had stable disease. Six patients continued ASI at 4 week intervals and a partial response was noted in a patient who had previously had stable disease. All patients developed IgG and IgM responses to sialyl-Tn and levels of IgM antibodies were significantly higher in those patients who were pretreated with CTX. Measurable tumour responses have been recorded following ASI with STn-KLH plus DETOX and the immunomodulatory properties of low-dose CTX have been confirmed.
Summary
We have undertaken a retrospective multicentre analysis of 139 patients (median age 44·4 years) undergoing allogeneic haematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) for multiple myeloma using myeloablative conditioning. The majority of patients received total body irradiation (TBI) combined with either melphalan (56·9%) or cyclophosphamide (28·5%). Overall, transplant‐related mortality (TRM) was 37·9% at 1 year and was not significantly different for patients receiving melphalan/TBI compared with cyclophosphamide/TBI. The overall complete remission (CR) rate, including patients in CR at the time of transplant, was greater for patients receiving melphalan/TBI (64·7%) compared with cyclophosphamide/TBI (47·2%)(P = 0·085). A significantly higher proportion of patients with continuing disease at the time of transplant achieved CR post‐transplant following melphalan/TBI conditioning compared with cyclophosphamide/TBI (52·9% and 33·4% respectively, P = 0·009). Relapse/progression rates at 5 years were significantly lower for melphalan/TBI (36·7%) compared with cyclophosphamide/TBI (80·8%, P < 0·0001) and remained significant in multivariate analysis. This resulted in an overall survival at 5 years of 44·1% and 28·1% for melphalan/TBI and cyclophosphamide/TBI, respectively (P = 0·059). These results demonstrate that the type of conditioning for sibling allogeneic HSCT for myeloma has a major effect on transplant outcome.
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