Faster reduction of the immunosuppressive drug dosage in early stage of allogeneic peripheral blood stem cell transplantation for patients with refractory or relapsed leukemia / 中国实用内科杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate early reduction of the dose of immunosuppressive drug after allogeneic peripheral blood stem cell transplantation(allo-PBSCT)for patients with refractory or relapsed leukemia.Methods Between Janaury 2004 and December 2006,15 patients with relapsed or refractory leukemia in Department of Hematology,the First Affiliated Hospital,Sun Yat-Sen University and Institute of Hematology & Blood Diseases Hospital,CAMS & PUMC,received allo-PBSCT from their relatives,12 from HLA-identical siblings.The preparative regimens included BuCy and TBICy with or without cytarabine.Cyclosporine A(CsA)or tacrolimus was used for graft-versus-host disease(GVHD)prophylaxis,with rapid decreasing starting on day 30 of post transplant if no GVHD appeared in receipts of matched sibling tranplantation.Results(1)Faster engraftment was achieved in all patients.Grade Ⅰ~Ⅱ acute GVHD appeared in 5 patients.Chronic GVHD occured in 7 of 11 evaluable patients.(2)Of 9 patients with an lower CsA or tacrolimus dosage,only 1 developed grade Ⅰ acute GVHD,4 chronic GVHD,2 extramedullary relapse.(3)After a median follow-up of 328 days,8 patients has leukemia-free-survival(LFS),4 relapsed,and only 1 had transplantation-related mortality(TRM)in the first 3 months post-transplant.The estimated LFS at 1 year and 2 years was 51% and 25%,respectively.Conclusion Patients with advanced leukemia might benefit from allo-PBSCT with significant lower treatment failure incidence.Dose reductions of CsA and tacrolimus in early transplant might enhance graft-versus-leukemia effect,and improve long-term LFS.