Allogeneic peripheral blood stem cell transplantation for haematological malignancies – an analysis of kinetics of engraftment and GVHD risk

Abstract

We have carried out an analysis of 44 patients undergoing allogeneic PBSC transplants from fully HLA-matched related donors with particular emphasis on engraftment kinetics and the incidence and severity of GVHD. The recipients had a median age of 37 years (range 5–56 years), 16 patients had standard-risk disease and 28 had poor-risk disease. GVHD prophylaxis was with cyclosporin A and methotrexate (n = 41), cyclosporin A alone (n = 2) or cyclosporin A and methylprednisolone (n = 1). Stem cells were mobilised using G-CSF, collecting a median of 5.75 × 10⁶ CD34⁺ cells/kg recipient weight (range 0.94–35 × 10⁶ CD34⁺ cells/kg). Engraftment times to a neutrophil count >0.5 × 10⁹/l and platelets >20 × 10⁹/l were achieved at a median of day +14 (range 10–25) and day + 14 (range 9–130) respectively. Patients receiving 4 × 10⁶ CD34⁺ cells/kg had significantly accelerated neutrophil and platelet engraftment and this number of CD34⁺ cells would appear to be a prerequisite for maximum engraftment using PBSC. Acute GVHD occurred in 25 of 43 evaluable patients although in only 12 was this clinically significant (grades II–IV). Chronic GVHD has occurred in 17 out of 36 evaluable patients, there was no significant difference between the standard- and poor-risk groups in incidence of either acute or chronic GVHD. In conclusion, these results confirm the feasibility of using PBSC for allogeneic transplantation without evidence for increased risk of either acute or chronic GVHD and provide further evidence supporting the potential of PBSC to replace bone marrow as the major source of haemopoietic cells for allogeneic transplantation.