Nonmyeloablative Allogeneic Stem Cell Transplantation for a Case of Refractory Systemic Lupus Erythematosus.

Autologous stem cell transplantation (SCT) was effective for severe SLE and may have curative potential in some cases, but recurrence of the disease was still a major problem. Allogeneic SCT for autoimmune disease has been shown to induce long-term remission through graft-versus-autoimmunity effect. Non-myeloablative SCT can induce full-donor Chimerism with much less toxicity. We report a case of 43 year old Chinese female with severe SLE refractory to high dose cyclophosphamide and had lupus nephritis. The patient also had avascular necrosis and was bed-bound. Peripheral blood stem cell transplantation were done from an HLA-matched sibling after non-ablative conditioning using ATG, Fludarabine and busulfan. The patient had good performace status nad had no recurrence at the last follow-up 16 months post-transplantation.