Retrospective Cohort Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2018. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Transplantation. Nov 30, 2018; 8(7): 252-261
Published online Nov 30, 2018. doi: 10.5500/wjt.v8.i7.252
Graft vs host disease impacts overall survival post allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation for acute lymphoblastic leukemia/lymphoma
Moussab Damlaj, Mohammad Snnallah, Ayman Alhejazi, Samer Ghazi, Bader Alahmari, Ahmed Alaskar, Mohsen Al-Zahrani
Moussab Damlaj, Mohammad Snnallah, Ayman Alhejazi, Samer Ghazi, Bader Alahmari, Ahmed Alaskar, Mohsen Al-Zahrani, Division of Hematology and HCT, Department of Oncology, King Abdulaziz Medical City, Riyadh 11426, Saudi Arabia
Moussab Damlaj, Ayman Alhejazi, Ahmed Alaskar, Mohsen Al-Zahrani, King Abdullah International Medical Research Center, King Saud bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences, Riyadh 11426, Saudi Arabia
Author contributions: Damlaj M designed the study and analyzed data; Damlaj M, Ghazi S and Snnallah M collected data; all authors provided patients, wrote and reviewed the manuscript, and approved final version of the manuscript.
Institutional review board statement: This study was approved by the institutional review board at King Abdulaziz Medical City (KAMC) - King Abdallah International Medical Research Center (KAIMRC).
Informed consent statement: The institutional review board waived informed consent due to the retrospective study design without patient contact or intervention; thus representing minimal risk study.
Conflict-of-interest statement: There are no relevant conflicts of interest relevant to the conduct of this study.
STROBE statement: The authors have read the STROBE Statement-checklist of items, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the STROBE Statement-checklist of items.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author to: Moussab Damlaj, FACP, FRCP (C), MD, Assistant Professor, Doctor, Division of Hematology and HCT, Department of Oncology, King Abdulaziz Medical City, P.O. Box 22490, Riyadh 11426, Saudi Arabia. damlajmo@ngha.med.sa
Telephone: +966-80-1111153395 Fax: +966-80-1111153364
Received: May 23, 2018
Peer-review started: May 25, 2018
First decision: June 9, 2018
Revised: September 7, 2018
Accepted: November 3, 2018
Article in press: November 3, 2018
Published online: November 30, 2018
Abstract
AIM

To examine the outcome and prognostic factors for high risk patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia/lymphoma (ALL/LBL) who underwent allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HCT) at our center during the period of 2010-2017

METHODS

After due institutional review board approval, patients with high risk ALL/LBL post HCT were identified and included. All records were retrospectively collected. Time to event analysis was calculated from the date of HCT until event of interest or last follow up with Kaplan-Meir means. Cox regression model was used for multivariable analysis calculation.

RESULTS

A total of 69 patients were enrolled and examined with a median age of 21 (14-61). After a median follow up of 15 mo (2-87.3), the 2-year cumulative incidence of relapse, cumulative incidence of non-relapse mortality, progression free survival and overall survival (OS) were 34.1%, 10.9%, 54.9% and 62.8%, respectively. In a multivariable analysis for OS; acute graft vs host disease (GVHD) and chronic GVHD were significant with corresponding hazard ratio 4.9 (1.99-12; P = 0.0007) and 0.29 (0.1-0.67; P = 0.0044), respectively.

CONCLUSION

Allogeneic-HCT for high risk ALL/LBL resulted in promising remissions particularly for patients with cGVHD.

Keywords: Acute lymphoblastic leukemia, Allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplant, Lymphoblastic lymphoma, Complete remission

Core tip: Allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HCT) is a potentially curative therapy for acute lymphoblastic leukemia/lymphoma (ALL/LBL) patients. We examined the outcome and prognostic factors of HCT for high risk ALL/LBL at our center. After due institutional review board approval, 69 patients were enrolled. After a median follow up of 15 mo (2-87.3), the 2-year overall survival (OS) was 62.8%. In a multivariable analysis; acute graft vs host disease (GVHD) and chronic GVHD predicted OS. In conclusion, allogeneic-HCT for ALL/LBL results in promising remissions in high risk disease and early referral for HCT to be considered for young and fit patients.