Chronic graft-versus-host disease: long-term results from a randomized trial on graft-versus-host disease prophylaxis with or without anti–T-cell globulin ATG-Fresenius
Socié, GérardService d'Hématologie-Greffe de Moelle, Hôpital Saint Louis, Paris, France;
Schmoor, ClaudiaClinical Trials Center Universitätsklinikum Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany;
Bethge, Wolfgang A.Department of Hematology and Oncology, Universitätsklinikum Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany;
Ottinger, Hellmut D.Klinik und Poliklinik für KMT, Universitätsklinikum Essen, Essen, Germany;
Stelljes, MatthiasDepartment of Hematology and Oncology, Universitätsklinik Münster, Münster, Germany;
Zander, Axel R.Department of Internal Medicine, Universitätsklinikum Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany;
Volin, LiisaDepartment of Medicine, Helsinki University Central Hospital, Helsinki, Finland;
Ruutu, TapaniDepartment of Medicine, Helsinki University Central Hospital, Helsinki, Finland;
Heim, Dominik A.Department of Hematology, Universitätsspital Basel, Basel, Switzerland;
Schwerdtfeger, RainerCentre of Blood and Bone Marrow Transplantation, Stiftung Deutsche Klinik für Diagnostik, Wiesbaden, Germany;
Kolbe, KarinDepartment of Internal Medicine, Universitätsmedizin der Johannes-Gutenberg-Universität Mainz, Mainz, Germany;
Mayer, JiriDepartment of Internal Medicine, Hemato-oncology, University Hospital Brno, Brno, Czech Republic;
Maertens, Johan A.Department of Hematology, I.K. UZ Gasthuisberg, Leuven, Belgium;
Linkesch, WernerDepartment of Hematology, Medizinisches Universitätsklinikum Graz, Graz, Austria;
Holler, ErnstDepartment of Hematology and Oncology, Klinikum der Universität Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany;
Koza, VladimirDepartment of Hematology and Oncology, Charles University Hospital, Plzen, Czech Republic;
Bornhäuser, MartinCenter for Bone Marrow Transplantation, Universitätsklinikum Carl Gustav Carus, Dresden, Germany;
Einsele, HermannMedizinische Klinik und Poliklinik II, Universitätsklinik Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany;
Kolb, Hans-JochemDepartment of Hematology, Klinikum Großhadern, München, Germany; and
Bertz, HartmutDepartment of Hematology and Oncology, Universitätsklinikum Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
Egger, MatthiasDepartment of Hematology and Oncology, Universitätsklinikum Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
Grishina, OlgaClinical Trials Center Universitätsklinikum Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany;
Finke, JürgenDepartment of Hematology and Oncology, Universitätsklinikum Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
Blood. - American Society of Hematology. - 2011, vol. 117, no. 23, p. 6375-6382
EnglishAbstract Previous randomized graft-versus-host disease (GVHD)-prophylaxis trials have failed to demonstrate reduced incidence and severity of chronic GVHD (cGVHD). Here we reanalyzed and updated a randomized phase 3 trial comparing standard GVHD prophylaxis with or without pretransplantation ATG-Fresenius (ATG-F) in 201 adult patients receiving myeloablative conditioning before transplantation from unrelated donors. The cumulative incidence of extensive cGVHD after 3 years was 12.2% in the ATG-F group versus 45.0% in the control group (P < .0001). The 3-year cumulative incidence of relapse and of nonrelapse mortality was 32.6% and 19.4% in the ATG-F group and 28.2% and 33.5% in the control group (hazard ratio [HR] = 1.21, P = .47, and HR = 0.68, P = .18), respectively. This nonsignificant reduction in nonrelapse mortality without increased relapse risk led to an overall survival rate after 3 years of 55.2% in the ATG-F group and 43.3% in the control group (HR = 0.84, P = .39, nonsignificant). The HR for receiving immunosuppressive therapy (IST) was 0.31 after ATG-F (P < .0001), and the 3-year probability of survival free of IST was 52.9% and 16.9% in the ATG-F versus control, respectively. The addition of ATG-F to standard cyclosporine, methotrexate GVHD prophylaxis lowers the incidence and severity of cGVHD, and the risk of receiving IST without raising the relapse rate. ATG-F prophylaxis reduces cGVHD morbidity.