Impact of Donor Type on Outcome after Allogeneic Stem Cell Transplantation in Acute Myeloid Leukemia Patients: Analysis of the German-Austrian Acute Myeloid Leukemia Study Group (AMLSG)

Background:Despite recent advances in identifying novel molecular targets in AML patients, intensive chemotherapy followed by allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) still remains a cornerstone of AML therapy. However, outcome of HSCT depends on the availability of a donor and the donor type. Prior studies comparing HSCT from HLA-matched related donors (MRD) with matched unrelated donors (MUD), demonstrated conflicting results with regards to outcome. These conflicting results might be attributed to the genetic heterogeneity of AML.

Aims:To analyze outcome with respect to donor type of 952 AML patients who received HSCT in first complete remission (CR) and were treated within prospective AMLSG trials.

Methods:Within the AMLSG trials conducted between 1993 and 2013, of a total of 4991 patients (excluding acute promyelocytic leukemia), 3408 (2744 younger (<61 years old), 664 older (≥61 years old)) patients achieved a first CR after intensive double induction therapy. Of these, 867 (31%) younger and 85 (13%) older patients received HSCT in first CR. Distributions of donor types were 511 matched related donors (MRD), 435 matched unrelated donors (MUD) and 6 haplo-identical donors. The latter were grouped together with MUD.

Results:Distributions of donor type over time are illustrated in table 1 indicating two clear trends with increasing numbers of MUD transplants and increasing median age in MUD- and MRD-transplants in recent years. There was no significant difference in overall survival, cumulative incidence of relapse (CIR) and death (CID) all estimated at 4 years according to the three time periods for MRD (p=0.56, p=0.15, p=0.10, respectively) and MUD (p=0.27, p=0.20, p=0.88, respectively).

There were no differences in stratified survival analyses for time period between MRD and MUD-transplants in the low, intermediate-1 and intermediate-2 risk groups with respect to OS (p=0.12, p=0.86, p=0.98), CIR (p=0.28, p=0.54, p=0.94) and CID (p=0.09, p=0.57, p=0.39). In the high risk group, OS was significantly superior after MRD-transplant compared to MUD-transplant (p=0.02), but without significant differences in CIR (p=0.74) and CID (p=0.08). Equivalent efficacy could also be shown in a subgroup analyses focusing on all FLT3-ITD positive patients (MRD, n=103, MRD, n=147) for OS (p=0.71), CIR (p=0.53) and CID (p=0.69).

Conclusions: Our results based on prospective interventional studies support the perception that MUD-transplants are equal to MRD-transplants in patients with AML in first CR. Only within the ELN high risk group, patients with MRD-transplants showed superior OS but without differences in CIR and CID as compared to MUD-transplants.