Rabbit Antithymocyte Globulin Serum Levels: Factors Impacting the Levels and Clinical Outcomes Impacted by the Levels.

Antithymocyte globulin (ATG) levels and clearance vary significantly among patients receiving the same weight-based dose of ATG. To date, ATG area under the curve (AUC), its determinants, and its impact on clinical outcomes have been examined in pediatric hematopoietic cell transplant (HCT) and adult nonmyeloablative HCT. Here we set out to examine ATG AUC in 219 uniformly treated adults undergoing myeloablative allogeneic HCT at our institution. Sera were collected for the determination of pre- or post-HCT ATG AUC. The lowest quintiles of pre- and post-HCT AUC were associated with inferior chronic graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) and relapse-free survival (cGRFS) and a higher risk of acute GVHD, respectively. The highest pre- or post-HCT ATG AUC quintiles were not associated with risk of death, nonrelapse mortality, or relapse. Factors most strongly associated with AUC were day -2 recipient absolute lymphocyte count, body mass index (BMI), and graft lymphocyte content. To achieve ideal pre-HCT AUC (avoiding low AUC to maximize cGRFS) in this HCT setting, ATG dosing will need to take into consideration recipient weight, BMI, and blood and graft lymphocyte counts. Further studies are required to develop a modern ATG dosing schema and to demonstrate that adjusting ATG dose to target a particular AUC is feasible and leads to improved outcomes.

Establishing a target exposure for once-daily intravenous busulfan given with fludarabine and thymoglobulin before allogeneic transplantation.

A combination of fludarabine (Flu) and daily i.v. busulfan (Bu) is well tolerated and effective in patients undergoing allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Although there is some evidence that Bu exposures exceeding 6000 µM.min [corrected] may lead to excessive toxicity, there is little information on the effect of exposures below this level on outcomes. We studied Bu exposure, as measured by area under the concentration-time curve (AUC), in 158 patients with various hematologic malignancies in an attempt to identify an optimal range for targeted therapy. The preparative chemotherapy regimen comprised Flu 50 mg/m(2) on days -6 to -2 and i.v. Bu 3.2 mg/kg on days -5 to -2 inclusive. Graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) prophylaxis included methotrexate, cyclosporin A, and antithymocyte globulin. Patients with Bu exposures below the median AUC of 4439 µM.min [corrected] were at increased risk for acute GVHD grade II-IV (hazard ratio [HR], 2.30; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.19 to 4.49; P = .014). Those in the highest and lowest Bu exposure quartiles (daily AUC <3814 µM.min and >4993 µM.min) [corrected] had an increased risk of nonrelapse mortality (subdistribution HR, 3.32; 95% CI, 1.46 to 7.54; P = .004), as well as worse disease-free survival (HR, 1.81; 95% CI, 1.09 to 2.99; P = .021) and overall survival (HR, 1.94; 95% CI, 1.12 to 3.37; P = .018). Bu exposures between 4440 and 4993 µM/min were accompanied by the lowest risk of both nonrelapse mortality and acute GVHD.

Antirelapse effect of pretransplant exposure to rabbit antithymocyte globulin.

It remains unknown why rabbit antithymocyte globulin (ATG; Thymoglobulin) has not affected relapse after hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) in randomized studies. We hypothesized that high pre-HCT ATG area under the curve (AUC) would be associated with a low incidence of relapse, whereas high post-HCT AUC would be associated with a high incidence of relapse. We measured serum levels of ATG capable of binding to mononuclear cells (MNCs), lymphocytes, T cells, CD4 T cells, or CD33 cells. We estimated pre- and post-HCT AUCs in 152 adult recipients of myeloablative conditioning and blood stem cells. High pre-HCT AUCs of MNC- and CD33 cell-binding ATG were associated with a low incidence of relapse and high relapse-free survival (RFS). There was a trend toward an association of high post-HCT AUC of lymphocyte-binding ATG with a high incidence of relapse and low RFS. High pre-HCT AUCs were also associated with faster engraftment and had no impact on graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) or fatal infections. High post-HCT AUCs were associated with a low risk of GVHD, seemed associated with an increased risk of fatal infections, and had no impact on engraftment. In conclusion, pre-HCT AUC seems to have a positive, whereas post-HCT AUC seems to have a negative, impact on relapse.

Influence of mesna on the pharmacokinetics of cisplatin and carboplatin in pediatric cancer patients.

Mesna, a reactive thiol, often encounters cisplatin and carboplatin in combination protocols involving oxazaphosphorines and platinum drugs. This co-administration might be unfavorable based on the inactivation of platinum drugs by thiol groups in vitro. We investigated whether mesna influences the pharmacokinetics of platinum drugs when co-administered with cisplatin or carboplatin. The pharmacokinetics of platinum drugs were investigated in 18 pediatric patients receiving either cisplatin or carboplatin in a combination with or without mesna. In cisplatin patients, a decrease in the distribution clearance of total platinum was observed when mesna was co-administered (CLd, 2.2 +/- 0.1 mL/min.kg; n = 3), compared to cisplatin without mesna (CLd, 4.8 +/- 1.5 mL/min.kg; n = 5) (p = 0.029, t-test). This might have been caused by an influence of mesna in slowing down the protein binding of cisplatin since a trend (p = 0.057) in prolonged distribution half-life of total platinum was also observed when mesna was present (t(1/2a) 65 +/- 21 min; n = 3) compared to cisplatin without mesna (t(1/2a), 32 +/- 18 min; n = 5). However, the impact of these changes on the area under the concentration time curve (AUC), total clearance (CLt), and volume of distribution (V) for total platinum and ultrafilterable platinum species was hardly noticeable. In carboplatin patients, when mesna was co-administered: AUC (2.5 +/- 0.4 mg.min/mL.400 mg/m2; n = 5) CLt, (6.8 +/- 5.1 mL/min.kg; n = 6), and V (0.7 +/- 0.4 L/kg; n = 6) for ultrafilterable platinum species were not significantly different from when carboplatin were administered without mesna: AUC (2.3 +/- 1.3 mg.min/mL.400 mg/m2; n = 4), CLt (5.8 +/- 4.6 mL/min.kg; n = 5), and V (1.1 +/- 1.1 L/kg; n = 5). Hence, mesna does not significantly influence the pharmacokinetics of cisplatin and carboplatin in pediatric cancer patients.