Allogeneic transplantation of bone marrow versus peripheral blood stem cells from HLA-identical sibling donors for hematological malignancies in 6064 adults from 2003 to 2020: different impacts on survival according to time period.

BACKGROUND: Mobilized peripheral blood stem cells (PBSC) have been widely used instead of bone marrow (BM) as the graft source for allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT). Although early studies demonstrated no significant differences in survival between PBSC transplantation (PBSCT) and BM transplantation (BMT) from human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-identical sibling donors to adults with hematological malignancies, recent results have been unclear. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this retrospective study was to compare overall survival (OS), relapse, non-relapse mortality (NRM), hematopoietic recovery and graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) between PBSCT and BMT according to the time period of HCT (2003-2008, 2009-2014, or 2015-2020). STUDY DESIGN: We retrospectively compared the outcomes after PBSCT versus BMT in 6064 adults with hematological malignancies using a Japanese registry database between 2003 and 2020. RESULTS: The adjusted probability of OS was significantly higher in BMT recipients compared to PBSCT recipients during the early period of 2003-2008 (adjusted hazard ratio [HR], 0.79; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.70-0.91; P < 0.001) and the middle period of 2009-2014 (adjusted HR, 0.80; 95% CI, 0.70-0.91; P < 0.001). However, during the late period of 2015-2020, the adjusted probability of OS was comparable between BMT and PBSCT recipients (adjusted HR, 0.94; 95% CI, 0.79-1.13; P = 0.564), which were mainly due to the reduction of NRM. There was no significant difference in the relapse rate between the groups, irrespective of the time period. Compared to BMT, PBSCT led to faster neutrophil and platelet recovery and the cumulative incidences of grades II-IV and grades III-IV acute and overall and extensive chronic GVHD were significantly higher in PBSCT recipients, irrespective of the time period. CONCLUSIONS: PBSCT and BMT had similar survival outcomes and relapse rates in adult patients with hematological malignancies during the late time period of 2015-2020 despite the hematopoietic recovery and acute and chronic GVHD being higher in PBSCT recipients in all time periods.

Allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation for acute myeloid leukemia with BCR::ABL1 fusion.

BCR::ABL1 fusion is found in < 1% of de novo acute myeloid leukemia (AML) cases and confers a poor prognosis. This Japanese nationwide survey analyzed patients with AML (n = 22) and mixed phenotype acute leukemia (MPAL) (n = 10) with t(9;22) or BCR::ABL1 who underwent allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (allo-HCT) between 2002 and 2018. The 3-year overall survival (OS) rates were 81.3% and 56.0%, respectively (p = 0.15), and leukemia-free survival (LFS) rates were 76.2% and 42.0%, respectively (p = 0.10) in patients with AML and MPAL. The relapse rates were 9.5% and 14.0% (p = 0.93), and the non-relapse mortality (NRM) rates were 14.3% and 44.0%, respectively (p = 0.10) in patients with AML and MPAL. One in 17 patients with AML, with pre-transplant tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKI), and three in five patients with AML, without pre-transplant TKI, did not achieve complete remission (CR) before allo-HCT (p = 0.024). Among the 20 patients with known disease status after allo-HCT, 95.0% were in hematological or molecular CR. None of the four patients who received post-transplant TKI for prophylaxis or measurable residual disease relapse experienced hematological relapse. In conclusion, our results suggest that pre-transplant TKI could improve disease status before allo-HCT. Moreover, allo-HCT resulted in high OS, high LFS, low relapse, and low NRM rates in patients with AML with BCR::ABL1.

[FLT3-ITD mutation-positive acute myeloid leukemia undergoing clonal transition with PTPN11 mutation at relapse].

A 28-year-old man was diagnosed with acute myelomonocytic leukemia. He achieved complete remission (CR) after two cycles of induction therapy. However, after consolidation therapy, bone marrow aspiration performed to prepare for allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation revealed disease relapse. Companion diagnostics confirmed the presence of the FLT3-ITD mutation. The patient received gilteritinib monotherapy and achieved CR. Subsequently, he underwent unrelated allogeneic bone marrow transplantation. One year after transplantation, the patient relapsed, and gilteritinib was resumed. However, the leukemia progressed, and panel sequencing using a next-generation sequencer showed that the FLT3-ITD mutation disappeared. A mutation in PTPN11, which regulates the RAS/MAPK signaling pathway, was also detected. Gilteritinib was discontinued, and the patient achieved CR with salvage chemotherapy. He underwent related haploidentical peripheral blood stem cell transplantation but died of relapse. This was a case in which genetic analysis revealed clonal transition and acquisition of resistance to treatment.

Elevation of Urinary Liver-Type Fatty Acid-Binding Protein Is a Harbinger of Poor Patient Prognosis after Allogeneic Stem Cell Transplantation.

Several recent studies have demonstrated that urinary levels of liver-type fatty acid-binding protein (L-FABP) can be used to stratify the prognosis of cardiac disease, cardiac intensive care unit admission, cirrhosis, and coronavirus disease 2019. Our initial prospective study revealed that urinary L-FABP (uL-FABP) was associated with a high probability of acute kidney injury after stem cell transplantation (SCT); however, the relevance of elevated uL-FABP to the prognosis of patients undergoing SCT remains to be determined. We aimed to investigate whether uL-FABP levels can be used to stratify patient prognosis after SCT. To achieve this aim, we conducted a new long-term follow-up study using data from patients enrolled in our preceding prospective cohort study. Patients were classified into high and low uL-FABP groups based on levels measured at baseline (ie, before initiating the conditioning regimen), using an uL-FABP cutoff of 8.4 µg/gCr, which was determined based on data from healthy adults. uL-FABP levels were also measured on days 0, 7, and 14 after SCT. Cox proportional hazard regression was used to examine the effects of each factor on survival outcomes, and Fine-Gray regression was used in the presence of competing risks. Multivariate analysis incorporating confounders was then performed for factors with P < .1 in univariate analysis. In total, 20 of 84 patients (23.8%), 57 of 84 patients (67.9%), 34 of 49 patients (69.4%), and 34 of 46 patients (73.9%) were classified into the high uL-FABP group at baseline and on days 0, 7, and 14, respectively. The 5-year overall survival (OS) rate was 23.9% in the high uL-FABP group and 68.9% in the low uL-FABP group. The multivariate analysis identified a high uL-FABP level at baseline as a significant prognostic factor for poor OS (hazard ratio [HR], 3.54; P = .002). The 5-year cumulative incidence rate for nonrelapse mortality (NRM) was 50.0% in the high uL-FABP group and 19.9% in the low uL-FABP group. In the multivariate analysis, high uL-FABP at baseline was a significant prognostic factor for NRM (HR, 3.37; P = .01). uL-FABP levels did not significantly stratify the cumulative incidence of relapse (HR, 2.13; P = .11). uL-FABP levels on days 0, 7, and 14 were not significant predictors of survival. High uL-FABP level before initiation of conditioning significantly influences OS and NRM following SCT, whereas a high uL-FABP level at any point after the conditioning regimen does not. Our results show that measuring uL-FABP level at baseline may be a simple way to predict survival in patients undergoing SCT.