Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Article
  • Published:

Immunosuppressive therapy versus haploidentical transplantation in adults with acquired severe aplastic anemia

Abstract

Our study aimed to compare treatment outcomes between hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) from haploidentical donors (HID) and immunosuppressive therapy (IST) in adults with acquired severe aplastic anemia (SAA). The medical records of 113 SAA adults who received IST, including rabbit ATG and cyclosporin (N = 37), or HID HSCT (N = 76) within 6 months of diagnosis at two institutions were retrospectively reviewed. Estimated 8-year overall survival (OS) was comparable between the IST and HID HSCT groups (75.6 vs. 83.7%, respectively, P = 0.328), but failure free survival (FFS) was significantly lower in IST group than HID HSCT group (38.5 vs. 83.7%, respectively, P = 0.001). Furthermore, a significant improvement in FFS was observed with HSCT over IST in patients under 40 years old. At the last follow-up, patients in HSCT group achieved better Karnofsky Performance Status (KPS) than those in IST group (100 [20–100] vs. 90 [20–100], P = 0.002). In terms of blood count, 83.1% (54/65) of patients in HSCT group showed complete recovery compared to only 38.2% (13/34) in IST group (P < 0.001). These data suggest that HID HSCT could be an effective alternative treatment option for SAA adults, and additional prospective studies are necessary.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Killick SB, Bown N, Cavenagh J, Dokal I, Foukaneli T, Hill A et al. Guidelines for the diagnosis and management of adult aplastic anaemia. Br J Haematol. 2015. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjh.13853.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Kosaka Y, Yagasaki H, Sano K, Kobayashi R, Ayukawa H, Kaneko T, et al. Prospective multicenter trial comparing repeated immunosuppressive therapy with stem-cell transplantation from an alternative donor as second-line treatment for children with severe and very severe aplastic anemia. Blood. 2008;111:1054–9. https://doi.org/10.1182/blood-2007-08-099168.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Bacigalupo A. How I treat acquired aplastic anemia. Blood. 2017;129:1428–36. https://doi.org/10.1182/blood-2016-08-693481.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Rosenfeld SJ, Kimball J, Vining D, Young NS. Intensive immunosuppression with antithymocyte globulin and cyclosporine as treatment for severe acquired aplastic anemia. Blood. 1995;85:3058–65.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. Kojima S, Hibi S, Kosaka Y, Yamamoto M, Tsuchida M, Mugishima H, et al. Immunosuppressive therapy using antithymocyte globulin, cyclosporine, and danazol with or without human granulocyte colony-stimulating factor in children with acquired aplastic anemia. Blood. 2000;96:2049–54.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Bacigalupo A, Giammarco S, Sica S. Bone marrow transplantation versus immunosuppressive therapy in patients with acquired severe aplastic anemia. Int J Hematol. 2016;104:168–74. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12185-016-2037-8.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Rosenfeld S, Follmann D, Nunez O, Young NS. Antithymocyte globulin and cyclosporine for severe aplastic anemia: association between hematologic response and long-term outcome. JAMA. 2003;289:1130–5.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Scheinberg P, Young NS. How I treat acquired aplastic anemia. Blood. 2012;120:1185–96. https://doi.org/10.1182/blood-2011-12-274019.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  9. Scheinberg P, Nunez O, Weinstein B, Scheinberg P, Biancotto A, Wu CO, et al. Horse versus rabbit antithymocyte globulin in acquired aplastic anemia. N Eng J Med. 2011;365:430–8. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa1103975.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Marsh JC, Bacigalupo A, Schrezenmeier H, Tichelli A, Risitano AM, Passweg JR, et al. Prospective study of rabbit antithymocyte globulin and cyclosporine for aplastic anemia from the EBMT Severe Aplastic Anaemia Working Party. Blood. 2012;119:5391–6. https://doi.org/10.1182/blood-2012-02-407684.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. Viollier R, Passweg J, Gregor M, Favre G, Kuhne T, Nissen C, et al. Quality-adjusted survival analysis shows differences in outcome after immunosuppression or bone marrow transplantation in aplastic anemia. Ann Hematol. 2005;84:47–55. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00277-004-0930-3.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  12. Xu LP, Liu KY, Liu DH, Han W, Chen H, Chen YH, et al. A novel protocol for haploidentical hematopoietic SCT without in vitro T-cell depletion in the treatment of severe acquired aplastic anemia. Bone Marrow Transplant. 2012;47:1507–12. https://doi.org/10.1038/bmt.2012.79.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  13. Im HJ, Koh KN, Choi ES, Jang S, Kwon SW, Park CJ, et al. Excellent outcome of haploidentical hematopoietic stem cell transplantation in children and adolescents with acquired severe aplastic anemia. Biol Blood Marrow Transplant. 2013;19:754–9. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbmt.2013.01.023.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  14. Gao L, Li Y, Zhang Y, Chen X, Gao L, Zhang C, et al. Long-term outcome of HLA-haploidentical hematopoietic SCT without in vitro T-cell depletion for adult severe aplastic anemia after modified conditioning and supportive therapy. Bone Marrow Transplant. 2014;49:519–24. https://doi.org/10.1038/bmt.2013.224.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  15. Clay J, Kulasekararaj AG, Potter V, Grimaldi F, McLornan D, Raj K, et al. Nonmyeloablative peripheral blood haploidentical stem cell transplantation for refractory severe aplastic anemia. Biol Blood Marrow Transplant. 2014;20:1711–6. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbmt.2014.06.028.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  16. Esteves I, Bonfim C, Pasquini R, Funke V, Pereira NF, Rocha V, et al. Haploidentical BMT and post-transplant Cy for severe aplastic anemia: a multicenter retrospective study. Bone Marrow Transplant. 2015;50:685–9. https://doi.org/10.1038/bmt.2015.20.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  17. Xu LP, Wang SQ, Wu DP, Wang JM, Gao SJ, Jiang M et al. Haplo-identical transplantation for acquired severe aplastic anaemia in a multicentre prospective study. Br J Haematol. 2016. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjh.14225.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  18. Xu LP, Jin S, Wang SQ, Xia LH, Bai H, Gao SJ, et al. Upfront haploidentical transplant for acquired severe aplastic anemia: registry-based comparison with matched related transplant. J Hematol Oncol. 2017;10:25 https://doi.org/10.1186/s13045-017-0398-y.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  19. Bacigalupo A, Hows J, Gluckman E, Nissen C, Marsh J, Van Lint MT, et al. Bone marrow transplantation (BMT) versus immunosuppression for the treatment of severe aplastic anaemia (SAA): a report of the EBMT SAA working party. Br J Haematol. 1988;70:177–82.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  20. Dufour C, Veys P, Carraro E, Bhatnagar N, Pillon M, Wynn R, et al. Similar outcome of upfront-unrelated and matched sibling stem cell transplantation in idiopathic paediatric aplastic anaemia. A study on behalf of the UK Paediatric BMT Working Party, Paediatric Diseases Working Party and Severe Aplastic Anaemia Working Party of EBMT. Br J Haematol. 2015;171:585–94. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjh.13614.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  21. Mackarel J, Iatan M, Kumar L, Storey L, O’Marcaigh A, Smith O. In support of upfront stem cell transplantation as first-line therapy for paediatric patients with idiopathic severe aplastic anaemia who lack a sibling donor. Br J Haematol. 2017;177:806–8. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjh.14097.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  22. Choi YB, Yi ES, Lee JW, Sung KW, Koo HH, Yoo KH. Immunosuppressive therapy versus alternative donor hematopoietic stem cell transplantation for children with severe aplastic anemia who lack an HLA-matched familial donor. Bone Marrow Transplant. 2017;52:47–52. https://doi.org/10.1038/bmt.2016.223.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  23. Cheng Y, Xu Z, Zhang Y, Wu J, Wang F, Mo X. First-line choice for severe aplastic anemia in children: Transplantation from a haploidentical donor vs immunosuppressive therapy. Clin Transplant. 2018;32. https://doi.org/10.1111/ctr.13179.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Lee SE, Yahng SA, Cho BS, Eom KS, Kim YJ, Kim HJ, et al. Impact of pretransplant red cell transfusion on outcome after allogeneic stem cell transplantation in adult patients with severe aplastic anemia. Bone Marrow Transplant. 2016;51:1323–9. https://doi.org/10.1038/bmt.2016.140.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  25. Ades L, Mary JY, Robin M, Ferry C, Porcher R, Esperou H, et al. Long-term outcome after bone marrow transplantation for severe aplastic anemia. Blood. 2004;103:2490–7. https://doi.org/10.1182/blood-2003-07-2546.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  26. Townsley DM, Scheinberg P, Winkler T, Desmond R, Dumitriu B, Rios O, et al. Eltrombopag added to standard immunosuppression for aplastic anemia. N Eng J Med. 2017;376:1540–50. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa1613878.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  27. Champlin RE, Horowitz MM, van Bekkum DW, Camitta BM, Elfenbein GE, Gale RP, et al. Graft failure following bone marrow transplantation for severe aplastic anemia: risk factors and treatment results. Blood. 1989;73:606–13.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  28. Przepiorka D, Weisdorf D, Martin P, Klingemann HG, Beatty P, Hows J, et al. 1994 consensus conference on acute GVHD grading. Bone Marrow Transplant. 1995;15:825–8.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  29. Shulman HM, Sullivan KM, Weiden PL, McDonald GB, Striker GE, Sale GE, et al. Chronic graft-versus-host syndrome in man. A long-term clinicopathologic study of 20 Seattle patients. Am J Med. 1980;69:204–17.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  30. Xu LP, Xu ZL, Wang FR, Mo XD, Han TT, Han W, et al. Unmanipulated haploidentical transplantation conditioning with busulfan, cyclophosphamide and anti-thymoglobulin for adult severe aplastic anaemia. Bone Marrow Transplant. 2018;53:188–92. https://doi.org/10.1038/bmt.2017.237.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  31. Kim H, Lee JH, Joo YD, Bae SH, Lee SM, Jo JC, et al. Comparable allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation outcome of a haplo-identical family donor with an alternative donor in adult aplastic anemia. Acta haematol. 2016;136:129–39. https://doi.org/10.1159/000445820.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  32. Wang Z, Zheng X, Yan H, Li D, Wang H. Good outcome of haploidentical hematopoietic SCT as a salvage therapy in children and adolescents with acquired severe aplastic anemia. Bone Marrow Transplant. 2014;49:1481–5. https://doi.org/10.1038/bmt.2014.187.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  33. Wang Y, Chang YJ, Xu LP, Liu KY, Liu DH, Zhang XH. et al. Who is the best donor for a related HLA haplotype-mismatched transplant?. Blood. 2014. https://doi.org/10.1182/blood-2014-03-563130.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  34. Yoshida N, Kobayashi R, Yabe H, Kosaka Y, Yagasaki H, Watanabe K, et al. First-line treatment for severe aplastic anemia in children: bone marrow transplantation from a matched family donor versus immunosuppressive therapy. Haematologica. 2014;99:1784–91. https://doi.org/10.3324/haematol.2014.109355.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  35. Bacigalupo A, Brand R, Oneto R, Bruno B, Socie G, Passweg J, et al. Treatment of acquired severe aplastic anemia: bone marrow transplantation compared with immunosuppressive therapy--The European Group for Blood and Marrow Transplantation experience. Semin Hematol. 2000;37:69–80.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  36. Gupta V, Eapen M, Brazauskas R, Carreras J, Aljurf M, Gale RP, et al. Impact of age on outcomes after bone marrow transplantation for acquired aplastic anemia using HLA-matched sibling donors. Haematologica. 2010;95:2119–25. https://doi.org/10.3324/haematol.2010.026682.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This work was partly supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 81670167 and 81670166), and Innovative Research Groups of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 81621001). We thank all colleagues for participating in this research.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Lan-Ping Xu.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Xu, ZL., Zhou, M., Jia, JS. et al. Immunosuppressive therapy versus haploidentical transplantation in adults with acquired severe aplastic anemia. Bone Marrow Transplant 54, 1319–1326 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41409-018-0410-3

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41409-018-0410-3

This article is cited by

Search

Quick links