Reduced Intensity Salvage Allo-HSCT Effective for Follicular Lymphoma
Reduced intensity allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) is an effective salvage treatment strategy in patients with follicular lymphoma whose disease recurred following a prior autologous HSCT, a study published in the journal Annals of Oncology has shown.
Because patients with follicular lymphoma who experience relapse after an autologous HSCT may be treated with a variety of therapies, including reduced intensity allogeneic HSCT, researchers sought to evaluate outcomes of patients who undergo reduced intensity salvage allogeneic HSCT
For the retrospective study, investigators analysed data from 183 patients with follicular lymphoma who had undergone an autologous HSCT. Patients received a reduced intensity allogeneic HSCT a median of 30 months after undergoing an autologous HSCT, and prior to the allogeneic HSCT, patients had received a median of 4 lines of therapy.
Of those, 81% had chemo-sensitive disease and 16% had chemo-resistant disease. Forty-seven percent and 53% of grafts were donated from sibling and unrelated donors, respectively.
Results showed that at a median follow-up of 59 months, the non-relapse mortality rate at 2 years was 27%. The median duration of remission after autologous HSCT and reduced intensity allogeneic HSCT was 14 and 43 months, respectively
Furthermore, researchers found that the 5-year relapse/progression rate, progression-free survival, and overall survival were 16%, 48% and 51%, respectively; all were associated with age and disease status at the time of allogeneic HSCT.
The findings suggest that reduced intensity salvage HSCT might overcome the poor prognostic impact of early relapse after autologous HSCT in patients with follicular lymphoma.
REFERENCE
1. Robinson SP, Boumendil A, Finel H, et al. Reduced intensity allogeneic stem cell transplantation for follicular lymphoma relapsing after an autologous transplant achieves durable long term disease control. An analysis from the Lymphoma Working Party of the EBMT [published online ahead of print March 8, 2016]. Ann Oncol. doi:10.1093/annonc/mdw124.
