Salvage high-dose chemotherapy in female patients with relapsed/refractory germ-cell tumors: a retrospective analysis of the European Group for Blood and Marrow Transplantation (EBMT).

BACKGROUND: High-dose chemotherapy (HDC) with hematopoietic progenitor cell transplantation is a standard option for relapsed/refractory testicular germ-cell tumor (GCT), but only few data have been reported in female patients with GCT. We conducted a retrospective analysis of female patients with GCT treated with HDC and registered with the European Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Between 1985 and 2013, 60 registered female patients with GCT, median age 27 years (range 15-48), were treated with salvage HDC. Forty patients (67%) had primary ovarian GCT, 8 (13%) mediastinal, 7 (12%) retroperitoneal and 5 (8%) other primary sites/unknown. Twenty-two patients (37%) received HDC as second-line therapy, 29 (48%) as third-line, and 9 (15%) as fourth- to sixth-line. Nine of 60 patients (15%) received HDC as late-intensification with no evidence of metastasis before HDC. The conditioning HDC regimens comprised carboplatin in 51 of 60 cases (85%), and consisted of a single HDC cycle in 31 cases (52%), a multi-cycle HDC regimen in 29 (48%). RESULTS: Nine cases who underwent late intensification HDC were not evaluable for response. Of the other 51 assessable patients, 17 (33%) achieved a complete response (CR), 8 (16%) a marker-negative partial remission (PRm-), 5 (10%) a marker-positive partial remission, 5 (10%) stable disease, and 13 (25%) progressive disease. There were 3 toxic deaths (6%). With an overall median follow-up of 14 months (range 1-219), 7 of 9 (78%) patients with late intensification and 18 of the 25 patients (72%) achieving a CR/PRm- following HDC were free of relapse/progression. In total, 25 of 60 patients (42%) were progression-free following HDC at a median follow-up of 87 months (range 3-219 months). CONCLUSIONS: Salvage HDC based on carboplatin represents a therapeutic option for female patients with relapsed/refractory GCT.

Clinical and immunological restoration in patients with AIDS after marrow transplantation, using lymphocyte transfusions from the marrow donor.

The diagnosis of transfusion-associated acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) was made in 2 patients who developed delayed opportunistic infections and severe cytopenias--56 months for the former (patient 1) and 22 months for the latter, (patient 2) following bone marrow transplantation (BMT) for aplastic anemia. In the third case, grafting for acute leukemia (patient 3) (HIV) infection was probably responsible for the failure of hematological and immunological reconstitution 8 months after allogeneic BMT. Each patient received 6 lymphocyte transfusions from the marrow donor for 3 weeks, combined with a 3-month course of low-dose recombinant alpha interferon. This treatment was followed by recombinant gamma interferon for 3 months. We showed that these 3 patients could resume a normal life for 9 months, at least, and that hematological restoration was observed. Our treatment succeeded in correcting the defect of proliferative response to Candida and the impairment of gamma interferon generation for 4 months in one patient and for more than 12 months in the other two recipients. Nevertheless T4 lymphocyte levels increased only slightly and HIV can still be isolated from the patients' blood. At the time of writing, patients 1 and 3 remain in good health with a partial immunological restoration while patient 2 has died of neurological impairment 2 years after the AIDS diagnosis. Although we cannot generalize this successful therapeutic approach to all patients with AIDS, the results may provide an interesting model of the potential effect of lymphocyte transfusions and the role of interferon therapy.