The Effect of Preemptive Therapy with Intravenous Ganciclovir Followed by Oral Ganciclovir against Cytomegalovirus Infection after Allogeneic Peripheral Blood Stem Cell Transplantation / 대한혈액학회지

BACKGROUND: Recently, in vitro studies demonstrated faster immune reconstitution after allogeneic peripheral blood stem cell transplantation (PBSCT) compared to bone marrow transplantation (BMT). In consequence, it can be expected that better immune reconstitution against cytomegalovirus (CMV) will lead to a reduced CMV-related morbidity and mortality after allogeneic PBSCT. METHODS: Forty seven patients who received allogeneic PBSCT were enrolled. CMV was routinely sought by at least weekly screening for CMV-related matrix protein pp65 antigenemia after engraftment (WBC >1,500/nL) was achieved. CMV antigenemia was treated with ganciclovir 5mg/kg twice daily i.v. as preemptive therapy for at least 10 days. After then, ganciclovir i.v. was switched to oral ganciclovir for maintenance therapy. RESULTS: CMV antigenemia was detected 8 (17%) out of 47 patients and CMV disease developed in only 1 case (2.1%). The medianperiod of time until the detection of CMV antigenemia was 51.5 days (range, 35~230). In 7 out of 8 cases, CMV antigenemia disappeared with ganciclovir treatment in 7 days. One patient with CMV disease (CMV interstitial pneumonitis) showed persistent CMV antigenemia for 3 months and expired due to restrictive lung disease. CONCLUSION: The incidence of CMV antigenemia and resistance to ganciclovir treatment was lower than the incidence of those reported in allogeneic BMT trials. These findings suggest that faster immune reconstitution against CMV after allogeneic PBSCT might have a stronger role in the prevention of emergence of CMV antigenemia and ganciclovir treatment than after allogeneic BMT.

Allogeneic Peripheral Blood Stem Cell Transplantation in Hematological Malignancies: Stem Cell Mobilization with GM-CSF alone or a combination of GM-CSF and G-CSF from Normal Healthy Donors / 대한혈액학회지

BACKGROUND: Granulocyte-colony stimulating factor (G-CSF) has been used in normal heathy donors to mobilize hematopoietic progenitors. Recently, it was reported that an addition of granulocyte-macrophage-CSF (GM-CSF) mobilized more primitive CD34+ subsets than did G- CSF alone. We investigated the result of the allogeneic peripheral blood stem cell transplantation (PBSCT) with stem cells mobilized with GM-CSF alone or a combination of GM-CSF and G-CSF from normal healthy donors in hematological malignancies. METHODS: Twenty-nine patients with hematologic malignancies had allogeneic PBSCT from normal sibling donors. Nine healthy donors were mobilized with GM-CSF (Leucogen (R)) alone and 20 with a combination of GM-CSF and G-CSF (Leucostim (R)). After 5~8 days of cytokine treatment, PBSCs were collected by large volume leukapheresis and analyzed. RESULTS: Stem cells were collected from the HLA matched normal healthy sibling donors. The mean harvested cell content was 8.74+/-3.22X10(8) MNCs/kg, 15.65+/-16.02X10(6) CD34+ cells/kg of the patients. There were significant differences in the harvested MNC count between mobilization group with GM-CSF alone and group with a bination of GM-CSF and G-CSF. Observed side effects of cytokine mobilization were myalgia (76%), headache (41%), febrile sense (24%) and skin rash (10%). These complications disappeared within 48 hours after discontinuation of cytokines. The median interval to achieve a WBC count>500/uL was 15.00+/-4.23 days, and 14.00+/-33.01 days to a platelet count>20,000/uL. The actual incidence of acute GVHD was 36.4%, 22.7%, and 4.5% for skin, GIT, and liver, respectively. Immunosuppressant responsive chronic GVHD developed in 63.1% (12/19) of assessable patients including 6 cases who had donor lymphocyte infusions. CONCLUSION: In this study, GM-CSF based cytokine mobilization was able to collect sufficient numbers of stem cells and allow rapid engraftment in the allogeneic PBSCT. Mobilization protocol with a combination of GM-CSF and G-CSF seemed to be superior to GM-CSF alone. Acute GVHD in patients with allogeneic PBSCT didn't appear to be more severe than in patients undergoing allogeneic BMT.