Background : The role of aminoacid substitution at position 116 of class I HLA antigens, has been the subject of several contributions, suggesting the possibility of permissive or non permissive mismatches.

Hypothesis. Permissive mismatched at position AA116, yield outcomes comparable to 10/10 matched grafts and superior to AA116 non permissive mismatches.

Patients: We have analyzed 358 unrelated donor transplants (UD) to test this hypothesis. All donors were matched at class II for DRB1 and DQ alleles; 226 were also matched at high resolution for A,B and C alleles; 84 had 1 permissive AA116 mismatch (Pmm), and 48 had 1 non permissive mismatch (NPmm). The 3 groups were comparable for patients age (p=0.5), donors age (p=0.9), diagnosis (p=0.2) and intensity of the conditioning regimen (p=0.4); both NPmm and Pmm had more patients with advanced disease, as compared to matched patients. The stem cell source was peripjheral blood for the large majority of patients.

Results.

The cumulative incidence (CI) of acute GvHD grade II-IV (p=0.01) and III-IV (p=0.001) was greater in patients with 1 allele mismatch, compared to matched patients, irrespective of AA116 permissive substitution. The CI of non relapse mortality (NRM) at 5 years 29%, 35%, 50% respectively in patients grafted from 10/10 matched donors, 1 allele Pmm donors and 1 allele NPmm donors (p=0.005). GvHD with or without infections, as a cause of death was recorded in 19%, 23% and 33% of the three groups respectively (p=0.1). The CI of relapse was respectively 18%, 30%, 20% (p=0.1). The actuarial survival at 5 years was 68% for 10/10 matched patients, 63% for 1 allele Pmm patients and 47% for 1 allele NPmm patients.

Conclusions. We confirm that aminoacid substitution at position 116 of class I HLA antigens, is a risk factor for non relapse mortality and survival. Patients with permissive mismatched AA116 donors have outcome comparable to patients grafted from matched donors.

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Disclosures

Angelucci:Novatis: Honoraria, Other: Chair Steering Committee TELESTO protocol; Celgene: Honoraria, Other: Participation in DMC; BlueBirdBio: Other: Local advisory board; Jazz Pharmaceuticals: Other: Local advisory board; Roche: Other: Local advisory board; Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorp., and CRISPR Therapeutics: Other: Participation in DMC.

Topics:
amino acids, donors, human leukocyte antigens, graft-versus-host disease, graft-versus-host disease, acute, infections, tissue transplants, mismatch, stem cells

Author notes

*

Asterisk with author names denotes non-ASH members.

© 2019 by The American Society of Hematology
2019
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