Multicenter, Prospective Study of Tacrolimus Plus Methotrexate As Graft-Versus-Host Disease Prophylaxis in HLA-Matched Sibling Peripheral Blood Stem Cell Transplantation: Comparison with Cyclosporine Group As Control

Graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) is an immunologic complication after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) with significant mortality and morbidities. Allogeneic peripheral blood stem cell transplantation (PBSCT) has high risk of GVHD, especially chronic GVHD compared to bone marrow transplantation. Only limited data are available comparing the efficacy of FK506 with that of cyclosporine (CsA) in human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-matched sibling PBSCT.

Thirty-nine patients with various hematologic disease received PBSCT with FK506+methotrexate (MTX) as GVHD prophylaxis were compared to ninety-four historical control with CsA+MTX GVHD prophylaxis.

The 1-year cumulative incidence of grade II-IV acute GVHD was significantly lower in patients who received FK506 than those in the CsA group (10.3% vs 28.2%, p=0.036). The female donor-male recipient pair (hazard ratio; 4.828, 95% CI; 17.84-13.06, p=0.002) and CsA prophylaxis (hazard ratio; 3.279, 95% CI; 1.14–9.43, p=0.027) were significant risk factor of acute GVHD in multivariate analysis. But, there was no difference in the 3-year cumulative incidence of chronic GVHD between the FK506 and the CsA group (77.6% vs 69.6%, p=0.793). The 3-year cumulative incidence of relapse (33.9% vs 23.1%, p=0.505) and 3-year treatment-related mortality (18.9% vs 28.4%, p=0.187) of the two groups were similar. The patients in the FK506 arm had a similar event-free survival (EFS) and overall survival (OS) with patients in the CsA arm (3-year EFS; 53.2% vs 55.1%, p=0.706, 3-year OS; 60.7 vs 61.5%, p=0.610). The age over 35 years (hazard ratio; 4.12, 95% CI; 1.95–8.70, p=0.001), female donor-male recipient pair (hazard ratio; 2.66, 95% CI; 1.52–4.65, p=0.001) and advanced pre-HSCT disease status (hazard ratio; 3.13, 95% CI; 1.72–5.71, p=0.001) were significant prognostic factors associated with OS in multivariate analysis.

These results demonstrated that the FK506+MTX can significantly reduce grade II-IV acute GVHD compared to CsA+MTX in sibling PBSCT with similar incidence of chronic GVHD, and comparable outcome in EFS, OS, relapse rate and TRM rate between two groups.

No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.